


The Raven and the Hawk

by dngrs_untld_hrdshps_unnmbrd



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Consensual Violence, Drama, F/M, Smut, Thanatonautics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-02-12 04:34:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12951390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dngrs_untld_hrdshps_unnmbrd/pseuds/dngrs_untld_hrdshps_unnmbrd
Summary: Cresora, one of Ikora’s Hidden, has had an alarming vision of Mara Sov, but it’s incomplete and the Reef Awoken won’t listen to her. She goes in search of Osiris for his help uncovering the rest of the vision but his methods are as strange as they are effective. Set after the events of Curse of Osiris.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic contains thanatonautics (obtaining visions before a Ghost revival) during sex. Literally during sex. It’s intended to be fun and interesting but it’s also a little darker than my usual smutfics and I would hate for anyone to be upset by it. Please heed the tags and this note!
> 
> I know Osiris isn’t everyone’s cup of sexy tea but his character is too interesting to me, and then I had this idea. I’ve always had a thing for older men with mysterious power and knowledge. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy xx
> 
> Update: this story is two chapters with drabbles that add to their relationship

 

The idea had come to her, fully formed, the moment she’d picked up the spiky, tarnished Ghost shell from the sand. Who else would posses a Ghost shell so ornate, so ostentatious, and how long had it lain there while its Guardian walked the pathways of the Infinite Forest with his last life?

The triangular portal undulated gently, as in if in a breeze. Cresora put out her hand and touched its surface, remembering Brother Vance’s fearful expression when she’d told him her intention. _Panoptes may be dead but the Infinite Forest is still fraught with danger. If you don’t find him in there you could wander its paths forever._

She’d watched through a sniper scope as Ikora’s chosen Guardian had entered the forest. She’d watched as they’d come out again, with Osiris. She’d almost volunteered to be that Guardian but her place was with the Hidden. Among the shadows. Watching. Listening.

Ghost’s voice spoke in her mind. _[Remember our deal? If you can’t get in we give this up for good. We’ve already ignored three requests from Ikora for a status update.]_

Cresora replied mentally, an Awoken talent she’d honed over centuries of stealthy missions. _Ikora’s used to me going off the radar for weeks at a time._

_[Sure. But she’s not used to you having a meltdown because a mission went wrong. Mercury was meant to take your mind off things.]_

_I didn’t set out to find Osiris’ Ghost._

_[Of course not. But Ikora reassigned you to the Dreadnaught right after. And yet here we are. Mercury. Still.]_

_I’ll give this up when I’m sure I’ve tried everything._

_[Even if you succeed the Reef Awoken won’t be grateful.]_

Maybe not, but at least her conscience would be clear. The gate offered no resistance. She stepped through –

– and fell through time. Fell through _something_. With one step she felt like she’d travelled a thousand miles. Or a thousand years. The stone and gold hall led to a large round room with a sheer, endless drop in the middle. She and Ghost peered down.

_[Strange and improbable. Glad the forest isn’t going to disappoint.]_

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flicker, and then a figure coalesced at her side. It was a man, a Warlock, outlined in golden light.

‘Osiris?’

The shimmering vision spoke. ‘I am not Osiris. I am one of his reflections. Do you seek Osiris?’

‘Yes, I –’

The golden figure disappeared with a snap.

_[Helpful.]_

_Wasn’t it._

They kept traversing the forest, through deep corridors and crypts to dizzying platforms and ramparts. Every now and then she saw a golden flicker at the edge of her vision but whenever she turned to look more closely there was nothing there. Then she rounded a corner and nearly stepped into one of the reflections.

‘Has Ikora Rey sent you to speak with Osiris?’ it asked.

Cresora quashed a smile. The assumption meant one less lie. ‘Yes. Where is he?’

The reflection sketched her a bow. ‘You will find him, if you are worthy.’ Then it promptly disappeared.

_Oh, Traveler’s balls. This man is a pain in the ass._

Hours later she was growing tired and frustrated and she was sure the reflections were following her. They’d be reporting all her wrong turns to their master. Standing at the centre of a stone chasm she shouted, ‘Either show yourself or leave me alone!’

A reflection materialised at her elbow, and she jumped. ‘Osiris is curious about why you are seeking him out.’

‘Has anyone told you that the third-person thing you have going on is really jarring?’

‘I am not Osiris.’

‘Then why would I tell you anything?’

‘ _Touch_ _é_.’ And the reflection disappeared. But this time she was ready with a small burst of Light, an Arc energy trace that caught the edge of the reflection’s robes. She’d put something similar on Uldren’s robotic crows so she’d known when any of them were near and might be spying on her.

_Did it work? Are you tracking that thing?_

Ghost whirred for a moment. _[Got it. It’s moving through the system fast. Very fast. I’ll have a likely path to the source in a few moments … yes, I think I’ve found him.]_

Cresora smiled grimly. _Good. Let’s go give this Osiris a little surprise of our own._

She found him in one of the tall, stone spires that floated incongruously above the surface of the planet. Several reflections watched her approach so she doubted she had the jump on him. It wasn’t that she wanted to ambush him but her pride as one of the Hidden was bruised.

She emerged into a large, round room and saw a man in maroon and gold robes standing at a desk piled with books and scrolls, his back to her. Unlike the reflections he’d done away with the hawk’s beak helm and feathered headdress.

He spoke without turning around. ‘I thought she would come herself. She said she would.’

_[Quite the sense of drama he’s got.]_

_Tell me about it._ ‘Ikora’s busy. Vanguard duties. You remember how it is.’

Osiris raised his head, and then turned and looked over his shoulder at her, brown eyes narrowed and assessing. Then he laughed and turned toward her. ‘Welcome to the Forest. I’m not used to visitors.’

Cresora pulled off her helm and pushed her dark hair off her face. ‘Cresora. Your little friends told you I was coming, I suppose.’

He was still smiling at her, and he clasped his hands behind his back. He appeared older than most Guardians she knew though that can’t have affected his abilities if he’d helped defeat Panoptes and survived Ghostless in the forest for so long.

‘They did. What has Ikora asked you to do?’

‘I’m meant to study the Forest and report back my findings. Before I forget, your friend over in the Lighthouse asked me to give you a message, if I could find you, though he was certain I wouldn’t.’

An irritated look crossed the Warlock’s face. ‘Did he. What is it?’

Cresora felt herself smile, remembering the earnest adoration in Brother Vance’s voice. ‘He said that the Lighthouse stands in readiness to received the Great Osiris at any time. Quite the little fanboy you’ve got there.’

Osiris’s jaw flexed in irritation and he glanced toward the window. She watched him, trying to discern exactly what was annoying him so much. ‘If you visited him even once it would make him so happy.’

‘I don’t do things merely because they will make people happy.’

_[Wow. I thought he was supposed to be charming.]_

‘I know I’m intruding. I don’t need to use your … home as my base for my studies. Is there somewhere in the forest that is secluded from the Vex?’

But Osiris wouldn’t hear of her leaving and insisted that she was welcome. ‘All right, if you’re sure. Could you show me a place I could meditate and not be in your way?’

He smiled, as warmly as he had been when he’d welcomed her. ‘At the top of the spire just above us there is a viewing platform with a beautiful view. I don’t use it nearly as much as I should.’

As she turned away he called after her, ‘By the way, that was an interesting little trick you used to find me. You’ll have to show me how it works sometime.’

As Cresora climbed the stairs she swore under her breath. That trace was a Hidden trick and she would have preferred that he hadn’t detected it.

She settled herself cross-legged on the stone floor before a large, triangular door looking out over the Infinite Forest. Far below she could see Vex patrolling the structures, and she pulled out her sniper rifle and took aim at a hobgoblin. The report cracked loudly, echoing off stone over and over again.

_[I thought you were meant to be meditating.]_

_I am._

_[Cresora?]_

She turned around at the sound of a female voice and saw Sagira hovering in mid-air, watching her. _Not watching, you’re being paranoid._ But she couldn’t help remember that the last time she’d seen this Ghost it had been cradled in her hands, unresponsive. Had Sagira had any awareness that it had been Cresora who’d found her?

_[Osiris has asked me to tell you that there’s a study and bedroom you can use just down the stairs to the left.]_

‘Oh – that’s very kind. Thank you.’ A moment later the little robot floated away.

 _[So we’re staying?]_ her Ghost said silently in her mind.

_For the moment._

_[You could just tell him what you need. Then we could be on our way.]_

_You heard what he said. He doesn’t do things just because people ask him to. I’m going to have to think of something else._

* * *

As studying the forest was the pretence for Cresora being there she took herself out onto the pathways each day. Every time she passed one of Osiris’ reflections they put their hands on their hearts and bowed to her, before watching her carefully until she was out of sight. It was annoying. Spies didn’t like to be spied on.

On the second day Osiris put a sniper rifle into her hands. ‘I heard your shots yesterday. A prototype I’ve been working on. It’s got better range. And it’s almost silent.’

She glanced up at him, wondering if he was annoyed she’d disturbed him but he only seemed amused. The sniper rifle was augmented with swirls of radiolaria. Neat.

On the fourth day after she’d come in from several hours in the forest he beckoned her over to his bookshelves, telling her that he had some material that might be relevant. There was something about the way he passed the books to her, the way he spoke. The way he smiled and made eye contact every chance he could. He took pains to ask her what she’d discovered, what she still needed to know. He was a good listener and she liked the pitch of his voice, his slight accent. His large hands thumbing through the books.

All right. She was a little charmed. If he could be charmed in turn…

She dropped her gaze, annoyed with herself. Is this what hundreds of cycles of training and stealth and intelligence gathering had come down to, sleeping with powerful men for their secrets?

_[Tell him the truth, then. It’s the fastest way.]_

Cresora felt a lurch hearing her Ghosts voice. The truth. When was the last time she’d told the truth to anyone, even Ikora? _The truth is always a last resort, you know that._

_[It doesn’t need to be that way.]_

But she ignored Ghost and looked at Osiris again beneath her lashes. He clearly wasn’t interested in starry-eyed admirers and she was glad as it would gall her to fawn over him and tell him how clever, how great, how misunderstood he was. But there were other things she could try. A fellow Warlock had once told her that it was the easiest thing in the world to get someone to kiss you. _‘It works best on a man. Especially men who are a little showy, a little arrogant. They like being looked at. They expect it, in fact. What you need to do is this …’_

While he talked Cresora inched herself closer and moistened her lower lip. She looked up at him, watching his eyes and then his mouth. He came to the end of what he was saying and she met his gaze, chin raised, her expression soft and expectant. The silence stretched and Cresora felt her heart race uncomfortably at this unnatural length of eye contact _. It’s not going to work and he’s going to think I’m strange. This is undermining everything._ Then realization about what she was waiting for flickered in his eyes, and they dropped to her mouth. Slowly, as inexorable as a magnetic force, he lowered his head and his lips met hers.

She found him attractive enough, but she was surprised to find just how good his kiss felt. With Uldren they’d been like a lock and a key. Everything fitted together, but there’s no magic to unlocking a door. Cresora was hyperaware of Osiris’ lips, the feel of him close to her. He coaxed her mouth open with his and deepened the kiss, and her arms went around him of their own volition. He was unhurried, responsive, and when his tongue ran along her top lip a wave of arousal cascaded through her body. Her back arched, pressing her breasts against his chest, and his hands slid to her lower back. He was very solid as she flexed against him.

Osiris broke the kiss and looked down at her, frowning slightly. He seemed thoughtful for a moment, but he covered that and murmured, ‘Most of you had the luck to be resurrected looking very young and fresh, and yet Sagira thought I would be better served … well.’ He scratched his fingers though his silver beard.

 _[Ahem. I resurrected you looking distinguished]_ the Ghost responded.

‘Thank you, Sagira.’ He turned back to Cresora. ‘Pretty young Guardians have sometimes told me they find me about as attractive as one of these dusty books.’

Cresora wasn’t sure if he was talking just so he could try and work out if there was an ulterior motive for her interest. She didn’t for a moment think he considered himself unattractive. _But it’s probably been a long time since anyone’s told him that he’s good looking. Maybe he’s fishing for compliments._

She smiled and went up on her toes and kissed him again. It was difficult to fake sexual attraction and she was glad she didn’t have to try. Osiris’ fingers slid into her hair, and with his other arm he gathered her closer. She caught the faint scent of incense from his robes and her fingertips brushed the soft skin at the nape of his neck.

Sinking back down and letting go of him, she reached out and touched the books on the desk. ‘Can I borrow these?’

‘Of course.’

He watched her, smiling slightly, as she picked up the books and made her way out of the room.

_[Well? Can you stomach him?]_

_Oh – um, yes. It’ll be fine._

Cresora tried to concentrate on the books but her mind kept straying back to Osiris. That kiss. It was good that she’d enjoyed it, wasn’t it? Maybe it wasn’t even spying if she wanted to go to bed with him. _Strong hands. Remember how soft the Prince’s were? Clever hands too if he made that rifle._ She felt the echo of Osiris’ body against hers and her lower belly clenched. Then she realised she’d been staring at the wall for ten minutes and slammed her stylus down. If she wanted to get anything done for the rest of the day she’d have to take care of herself.

Wriggling out of her greaves and then her underwear she remembered the feel of Osiris’ hands on her waist, and imagined how it good it would feel once he got them beneath her clothes. _I guess I’m starting there._

It started there, and then went a lot further.

* * *

Cresora awoke with a gasp. Always that nightmare. She was getting tired of seeing the queen writhing in constant agony and being able to do nothing about it. That place. Where was she? Why couldn’t Cresora ever pan out, pan up, and see more of that dark room?

Sleep would be beyond her for a few hours so she got up and pulled her robes on. She’d pace around the spire for a while and try and think about other things.

Cresora was down in the main room standing before the window when a figure moved behind her in the darkness, and she felt a hand on her waist. Osiris. He turned her toward him, and then she felt his mouth on hers. A soft kiss. A question. Her arms came up around him in answer, and they stood together in the half-light, exploring, breathing each other in. What was it about some people, the chemistry that was just there, humming beneath the surface. She liked his taste, and the way his short beard prickled against her lips. She liked the way he held himself, and held her.

He took her hand and made a gesture with his head, and she followed him up some stone steps. She watched his body move in the dim light, shoulders broad in his maroon robes, his strong back.

There were dozens of candles sitting in pools of wax all around the bedroom and books and other paraphernalia stacked on shelves and desks. But she didn’t have long to take it all in as he was turning to her, taking her face in his hands, and kissing her. She smoothed her hands up his chest and kissed him back, open-mouthed kisses, her tongue seeking his.

He undressed her slowly, his hands roaming over her skin as he exposed it, very warm and large. She was busy trying to navigate the fastenings of his robes when his fingers found her sex and the wetness there. He stroked her softly and she gasped and went up on her toes, holding tightly to his shoulders. He kept rubbing circles on the hard little nub, watching her face as she breathed hard, lips parted. With his other hand he loosened his own robes and shrugged out of them, and she recovered enough to help him with his greaves. She took the hot thickness of him in her hand, stroking the soft skin, and he made a noise in the back of his throat and kissed her neck.

Ghost’s voice touched the edges of her mind. _[I know your cover story is to investigate what lies in the Infinite Forest but I’m not sure that this counts.]_

_Hush. I want to forget about all that for a while._

She led Osiris over to the bed and pulled him down with her, kissing across the breadth of his shoulders while he continued to stroke her. He slid one finger into her tight channel, then out again, before easing slowly in with a second. She whimpered and clutched him convulsively. _Oh god yes this is working perfectly._

He was watching the patterns of light swirling on her pale blue skin. ‘You’re very beautiful in the half light, did you know?’

She smiled sleekly, enjoying the appreciation in his eyes. ‘Thank you.’ He took one of her nipples into her mouth and sucked, and then the other. Fire shot through her and suddenly she wasn’t much interested in foreplay anymore and pulled him on top of her. Putting her hand over his she guided his length into her, and she drew in a sharp breath as he sank several inches. He was deliciously thick and she tightened her legs around him, wanting him to push harder, fuck her quickly. He caressed her face and, impatient, she bit his finger lightly.

He looked down at her, amused, and then dropped his gaze to her breasts, her belly, her sex. He sank another inch and she moaned, a hopeful, needy sound. One hand on the back of her thigh, he pushed her knees up to her shoulders and began to fuck her. Her head fell back, savouring the sensations rolling though her. The weight of him. The feel of him filling her, over and over. She was tightening around him by slow increments, her orgasm approaching quickly as the first one always seemed to when it had been too long, and then it was upon her, her body flexing hard beneath his. He put more of his weight on her to keep her in place, to drive himself deeper, the sensations higher, and she cried out roughly.

He caressed her throat and she opened her eyes to look at him, hazy from her orgasm and already wanting another. It wouldn’t take much but she hoped he wouldn’t finish soon.

‘If I squeeze your throat tightly as you come it will feel very good for you. Would you like that?’ he asked.

Would she? She liked the weight of his heavy body on hers, the strength of his hand around her throat, the firm thrusts edging her closer to her peak again already. She nodded, lifting her chin and feeling a pleasurable dropping sensation chase through her body. Her hand found his face and she scratched her nails though his beard, enjoying the feel of it; of everything about him. And there it was, her next orgasm that had been waiting in the wings, rushing up and then clenching hard around him. Suddenly his hand tightened on her throat, squeezing firmly though she was still able to breathe. The sensation was strange but not uncomfortable, and then all the blood rushed to her head and the intensity of her orgasm doubled, tripled, went on and on. Osiris kept fucking her throughout, his rhythm never breaking.

Finally it subsided and he released her, bracing his hands either side of her head and waiting for her to open her eyes.

‘Good?’ he asked.

Cresora’s mouth felt like it was thick with honey and she swallowed and then gasped, ‘Yes. Yes, it was good.’

He watched her narrowly for a moment. ‘I could keep going until you die.’

She stared up at him, shock chasing away the pleasurable cloud of her orgasm. ‘ _What?_ Why?’

‘It’s what you sought me out for, isn’t it? Thanatonautics.’

 _He knows. How does he know? Has he seen this, or is he used to Warlocks coming to him for his secrets?_ Perhaps she wasn’t as subtle about things as she thought she’d been. But she’d decided that the sex wasn’t meant to be part of it, this was just because she wanted him. She hadn’t expected him to be quite so earthly. Good to touch.

‘Is this a good time for that?’

‘Yes. It’s perfect actually.’

He was watching her closely. Maybe it was just her imagination but she thought she saw something goading in their brown depths. _Go on, I dare you._

She swallowed. _Two birds with one stone, I guess._ ‘All right.’

‘I don’t have to. You’re afraid.’

‘Of course I’m afraid. Dying hurts.’

‘It’s not the pain that’s the frightening part. Are you sure you want to see?’

She knew she didn’t want to see. It was a terrible place, wherever the queen was, and she was in terrible pain. But she’d already gone over this in her mind and decided it was what she wanted. ‘I don’t want to see. I want to know.’

Osiris’ eyes flashed at her response, as if it was exactly what he was hoping she’d say. ‘You can talk to your Ghost in your mind?’

So he’d noticed that, too. She nodded, and Ghost appeared, whirring by her shoulder.

‘Tell your Ghost to stop me if you change your mind. And try not to think about it if you can. It’s easier if you’re relaxed.’ He kissed her softly, enfolding her in his arms and rocking his hips against hers. He was gentler now, sliding his fingers into her hair and holding her close. For a minute it seemed to Cresora that she wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about what they were doing long enough to relax into this. _How is he going to do it? When?_ _Why is now a good time?_ But he found the perfect rhythm yet again and the length of him was hitting exactly the right spot, driving hard and deep, over and over. He watched her closely, his breathing even as hers became ragged. Strangely, the fear and vulnerability put an edge to the sensations that she wasn’t expecting and the gold-bright building of her orgasm took on a sweeter ache. Her hands tightened on his shoulders as she came, and she was lost in the sensation, his hand caressing her throat, but not squeezing.

Then as her orgasm faded he suddenly clenched tightly, and with far more force than last time, cutting off her breath. His grip was like iron and her eyes widened, her hand going up to convulsively clutch his wrist. It went on and on. Being strangled was not the swift blankness of a bullet. She struggled by reflex but he was a lot stronger than her and she was pinned to bed by her neck and his hips and thighs pressing down onto hers.

_[I’ll tell him to stop.]_

The memory of his Sunbracers came into her mind as her lungs burned. _Dawnblade. This is his throwing arm._

_Ghost. Don’t._

It was awful to die. She would never be used to it, though she thought she’d learned to put up with it. There was something hovering at the edges of her mind, something she’d sensed before during slow deaths. She focused inward, away from the pain and panic, and the dark horizon rushed closer.

And suddenly she was free. A huge starry sky was spread before her. Around her. Beneath her. Nothing touched her. She barely felt her own limbs.

_Ghost, it’s beautiful._

But Ghost didn’t reply. Cresora twisted in mid-air, the medium like water and supporting her body. She was able to propel herself any direction she wanted, closer to the little pinpoints of Light. _Are they people? Is that all the Guardians?_ How beautiful they were. Out at the edges there were other lights, still twinkling but with a softer light. There was something fluttering out of the corner of her eye but before she could get closer to see what it was there was a flash of white. Air sucking in over her lips. A warm mouth against her cool one. Blood rushing, pounding through her body.

‘You saw,’ Osiris murmured against her mouth.

She was still on her back and his body was against hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face against his warm throat. There were tears in her eyes as she whispered, ‘Osiris, it was so beautiful.’

He pulled his hips back and she felt the thick drag of his cock inside her, and he thrust anew. She kissed him hungrily, the death and revival having made her heady. ‘What did you see?’ he asked, gazing down at her intently. His heavy hands found the backs of her thighs and he pressed down as he drove himself deeper.

Cresora told him of the lights as if in a night sky, of the sensation of floating, feeling free, and her words seemed to excite him. Her calves were over his shoulders and she ran her nails down his muscular chest as she spoke. His thrusts were less measured now, more intense, his voracity making the sensations climb higher as he watched her speak, his eyes fixed on her mouth. Every now and then he palmed her breasts, squeezing his delight and making a low noise in the back of his throat, his brows drawn tightly together. It was heady, seeing his pleasure, and she wanted to keep talking, keep watching him, but she had to break off, whimpering. ‘Osiris, you’re going to make me come again.’

He licked his thumb and reached down between them, rubbing firm circles on her clit as he continued to thrust. The sensations exploded and she clenched rhythmically on his cock, arching tightly against him. She heard him utter what sounded like a curse word in another tongue and he came, pounding deeply as he did, his hands tight around her thighs. Then he stilled, breathing hard.

Ghost was hovering half a foot from their faces and he shot it an annoyed look and brushed it away. ‘Are you all right?’ he asked her, withdrawing.

But Cresora couldn’t speak. He gathered her close to him, his heart pounding hard against her cheek. She burrowed her face against his chest, strange sensations racing through her. _I’ve never felt anything like it. What the hell did we just do?_

After several minutes she took a deep breath and loosened her hold on him. Osiris propped himself up on his elbow, the heel of his hand against his temple, his eyes gleaming as he looked down at her. ‘Can I just say that I enjoyed that very much?’

She narrowed her eyes, no doubt in her mind that he’d intended what had just happened between them from the moment he’d found her standing by the window. ‘If you guessed that I sought you out for help with thanatonautics then why did you wait until we were having sex to offer to teach me?’

He laughed, a low, lazy sound. Cresora watched as he traced patterns over her breasts with his fingers. ‘You made my soul feel very good. How does yours feel?’

 _Squicked out. Floating. Like I’m filled with starlight._ She wasn’t sure which was the predominant feeling. Changing the subject, she asked, ‘What was that you said as you came?’

‘It’s not easy to translate and not very pleasant.’

‘Oh?’

He considered this. ‘Something like, _fucking hell_. But I meant it in a good way. A very good way, little bird.’

‘Well? Why wait till now?’

He mused for a moment, winding a strand of her hair around his finger. ‘I like teaching people to have visions and I like sex. Together it’s…perfect. In bed, your mind is relaxed and free and you see the most spectacular sights. I feel the echo of your visions and your ecstasy in your Light. I listen to what you see. It is very satisfying for me.’

‘That’s really dark, though. You’re getting off on killing me.’

He slid a look at her. ‘In a way. But it’s more about what comes after. So, you don’t want me to do it again?’

Cresora chewed her lip. She didn’t have the answer to that right now.

‘Can you tell me what you’re hoping to see?’

‘I didn’t see anything but that darkness and the lights.’

He waited, one grey brow raised. ‘Am I not allowed to know?’

She reached down and drew the bedsheet around her, and then got up, taking it with her. Ghost followed her out of the room. ‘Goodnight, Osiris.’

* * *

_[You didn’t even see the queen, did you?]_

Cresora rolled onto her back and looked at the ceiling. She’d been lying in bed for half an hour now and didn’t feel the least bit sleepy. The sheet smelled like sex. Like him. She kept picturing that place, that sense of peace. It had been beautiful. Wondrous. No wonder Warlocks got addicted to thanatonautics. And what a way to be taught. Osiris was…

_[Osiris was a jerk. Did you see what he did when I was just checking that you were all right?]_

She grinned at Ghost. _You don’t need to look to know if I’m fine. Don’t stare at us while we’re having sex, you little perve._

_[He watched you while you were dead. He wouldn’t let me bring you back right away.]_

She turned to Ghost, realizing something. _If you watched the whole thing you can show me that moment, can’t you? I know you keep a memory of everything you see for a little while after._

Ghost’s optic narrowed as if it was frowning. _[Why do you want to see?]_

_Because I need to know that moment from every angle because I still don’t know how I feel about it. This is the only piece I don’t have._

To Ghost, she said, _Just show me._

A moment later a picture bloomed on the stone wall and she saw Osiris let go of her throat and watch her still, dead face. Ghost swooped in to revive her, but Osiris stopped it. ‘No. Not yet.’ He gently brushed a lock of hair across her temple, his expression tender. Cresora remembered the place she went, the purple-blue sky, and realized something with a jolt as she looked at his profile. The shape in the distance. It had been a bird of prey, hovering as hawks sometimes do as they hunt. It was Osiris. 

So he hadn’t just felt her vision, he’d gone with her somehow?

‘All right,’ Osiris said to Ghost without looking up.

And as her eyes flickered and she drew breath into her lungs he kissed her, and the image faded.

_[Ugh. It’s gross how he likes that so much.]_

But she barely heard Ghost because her eyes focused on an unseen horizon, and in the distance she saw the flutter and flash of golden wings.

* * *

_Thank you for reading! Come find me on tumblr: https://dngrs-untld-hrshps-unnmbrd.tumblr.com/_


	2. Chapter 2

_[Ikora sounds worried about you. Shall I play her message?]_

Cresora hadn’t opened her eyes yet but Ghost could always tell when she was awake. She rolled onto her back and looked at the bright Mercury light illuminating the ceiling. Deep in the Infinite Forest she seemed very far away from the Tower, Ikora, the Reef. From everything. How wonderful it was. And last night… She smiled to herself. That had been rather wonderful, too.

At the Reef she’d always been playing a role, pretending to be one of the many Guardians bringing in bounties or fighting in the Prison. No one, not even her fellow Guardians, knew that she was really there to spy on Mara Sov and her brother, to report back to Ikora about alliances the Reef might be making behind the Vanguards’ back. That meant always being watchful and always smiling for Uldren even when she didn’t feel like it, which was most of the time as she was constantly on edge.

Then came exposure. And the shame.

_It thinks we are stupid, brother. It doesn’t understand our power, this sneaking mudborn worm._

No one and nothing could be as cold and cruel as Queen Mara Sov. Her icy wrath had been terrible but worse was the indifferent gaze of the Prince as he’d stood beside his sister’s throne while Mara Sov related every false piece of intelligence they’d fed Cresora; every private word she’d spoken to Uldren; every tryst they’d had that apparently even he had only been pretending to enjoy. He’d told his sister every sordid, intimate detail of their bedroom habits, a fact Cresora found as bizarre as it was mortifying.

Finally they’d sent her back to the City with a warning never to return, but that didn’t mean it was over. Ikora’s questions came next, and they went on and on, making her relive every excruciating detail. How keenly she’d felt her failure even through Ikora’s gentleness. Her Vanguard leader never got angry, never shouted at her, but her disappointment was palpable and it was worse than any Reef Awoken’s sneers.

_[Cresora? Ikora’s message. She wants to know what we’re doing.]_

She sighed. Always questions. Always checking up on her now. Here Osiris could ask her questions if he wanted to but she didn’t owe him anything. How freeing that was.

_Not right now. I saw Osiris working on a pulse rifle yesterday. Let’s go out and put it through its paces._

The Mercury sun was hot and it felt good to be out in it, running up and down stone ledges and leaping across yawning chasms. The strange pulse rifle made short work of the Vex and she seemed to be able to cast Stormtrance more often than usual, vaporising dozens of enemies in her path. For once, too, Osiris’ reflections seemed to be staying out of her way.

When she returned he was in the large main room, a set of glowing cubes in his hand and a triangular portal before him shimmering away to nothing. He smiled at her and she felt her face warm slightly, remembering what had happened between them last night.

Osiris nodded at the pulse rifle as she set it down on a workbench. ‘What do you make of it?’

‘Good range. Good magazine. Easy to reload. It seemed like when I killed Vex it made my Light grow stronger.’

He looked pleased. ‘Yes, that’s the effect I was aiming for.’

‘Recoil pattern’s a bit random though.’ He was watching her with a slight smile on his face and somehow she knew his mind had strayed to things other than guns. ‘Might need some fine tuning.’

‘Sleep well?’

‘Fine, thanks,’ she replied, voice husky. Even though she’d left his bed feeling annoyed the experience had been beautiful. Strange and intense, yes, but she didn’t regret it.

‘Do you want to try what we did last night again sometime?’

She tucked her hair behind her ear. ‘You’re direct, aren’t you.’

‘I find it’s quicker.’

_[Isn’t he Mr Efficient.]_

_Tell me about it. I guess he knows what he likes._  She remembered his look of satisfaction in bed as he’d told her how much he’d enjoyed himself. The intensity of his expression as he’d fucked her while she told him everything that she’d seen in her vision. 

Her confidence in her ability to detect authentic reactions had taken a beating recently but she was pretty sure they’d both liked what had happened between them. ‘Which part?’

‘Either part. Come find me later, if you want to.’

Osiris went upstairs, and Cresora spent the next few hours writing up a report on the Infinite Forest as if she really had been tasked to do so by Ikora. It kept her hands busy, though anticipation akin to nervousness kept revolving through her belly. He’d left the decision entirely up to her. She wasn’t used to having so much choice.

Finally, she stood up, wiped her damp hands on her robes, and went to look for him. Knocking softly on his door she pushed it open. He was writing at his desk and got up when he saw her hovering in the doorway.

‘I don’t want to disturb you if you’re …’

But he crossed the room toward her and her words dried up as she saw from his expression that he clearly wasn’t busy, not one bit, and he was in fact very glad to see her. He put one hand up to caress her cheek, a question in his eyes.

‘Both parts, please,’ she whispered. ‘I liked both.’

He kissed her softly, his thumb stroking her cheek, and her nervousness dissolved.

‘All right. We’ll try something a little different this time.’ He undressed her but he didn’t touch her like he had the previous night, and when she was naked he told her to get into bed. She watched him, sitting up beneath the blankets, as he took his robes off and walked about the room naked collecting things. He poured water from a jug into a basin and placed it on the side table next to the bed. With a twist of his hand Solar energy flared, and a wisp of steam rose from the surface of the water.

Out of a drawer he took a wickedly sharp knife, drawing it from its scabbard and placing it next to he basin. Then he got into bed with her.

‘Warm enough?’ he asked as she scooted against his side, and she nodded. They were sitting up together and she had a pillow behind her back. The room was very dim and hushed, candles flickering again, and the warm gold, brown and deep red colours in the room were soothing.

He put the basin of warm water beside her on the bed and picked up the knife. ‘Can I have your arm?’

Realising what he intended to do she held it out. He took it in his warm hand and examined her wrist. ‘Is it common for thanatonauts to combine sex and death?’ she asked.

Osiris smiled slightly. ‘It depends what you mean by common. Look at me.’ As she lifted her eyes to his he cut her quickly and deeply. She hissed in pain, a few drops of blood spurting over the blanket, and he guided her hand down into the warm water.

‘A bullet would be quicker.’

‘The point is not to be quick, but to slowly starve the brain of… I’ll explain later. Are you all right? If it hurts too much we can try something else.’

It did hurt, but as a minute ticked by the pain eased to a slight throb that she thought she could ignore. She ignored the rapidly reddening water as well.

‘Will you touch me?’ she whispered, reaching her free hand up to his face.

He made a noise in the back of his throat and kissed her, as if he’d been hoping that she really did mean she wanted both, the visions and him, and at the same time. He caressed her nipples, plucking the peaks, and then slid his hand down her belly between her thighs. She was wet already, because the of the intimacy of the dimly lit room, because of his obvious delight and capability. Because his strange attentions were heady. He stroked soft circles on her clit, sensations sparking through her, and she kissed him with her open, panting mouth. He was slow about it, bringing her close twice and then easing off, watching her carefully, his eyes flicking toward the bowl of bloody water as if gauging the timing something. 

She thought about his fingers, just his fingers, and the feel of his mouth against hers. He rubbed firm, tight circles in exactly the right spot and her orgasm rose up like a bird taking flight and she came, shuddering against him. 

As it eased off black and grey dots filled her vision and she slid weakly to one side. He pulled her back against him, but her light-headedness wouldn’t clear and there was a slight buzzing in her ears.

A moment later she realised he was speaking softly, a his lips murmuring against her temple in what sounded like a recitation. ‘ _… in Death’s shade, and his fruit is sweet to taste. Let him lead you to the banquet hall and let his banner over thee be wisdom._ ’

‘What’s that?’ she whispered without opening her eyes. He was warm against her, bright and golden, as her own body grew cool and sluggish.

‘It’s from the _Thanatonaut’s Lullaby_. Words to say to yourself or to someone else as a passage is nearing. Do you want me to keep going?’

The words were comforting, as was the sound of his voice. ‘Please.’

‘ _He shall strengthen thee with knowledge. His left arm is under your head, and his right arm embraces thee._ ’

Her eyes were closed and she felt heavy and cold, but not unpleasantly so. She could feel him against her, but not her body on the bed. There was just his voice, and the faint sensation of his Light shimmering against hers. Her breath was barely stirring but he talked on, soft and low, knowing she could still hear him.

‘ _I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: do not arouse or awaken my love until she so desires. I charge the …_ ’

The universe moved around her, flashing past at remarkable speeds, uncontrolled. The world was spinning, spinning, and then it slowed and she was in that velvety purple-blackness, studded with Light.

She reached out, trying to propel herself through the air or whatever it was around her – and saw not a hand, but a dark feathered wing. She was a bird? She pulled back her arms – no, wings – and flapped them, and she rose upwards. Then she laughed in delight and turned a kind of somersault. Looking around she saw the hawk watching her in the distance but drawing no closer. How strange that they were birds here. How beautiful it was.

But there was something else, something darker even than her black feathers or the void around her. It was a feeling, like a nightmare she couldn’t awake from. _The queen. Where –_

Light flashed through her. Pain blazed in her arm. She’d been shot, lost a limb. If she’d blown her cover –

Cresora gasped and jerked violently, looking for the battle and her gun but there was something holding her.

‘Shh. It’s all right.’

Her unfocused eyes fastened on Osiris, and then she looked down at her naked body, at his. The bowl of bloody water was gone and so was the knife. Her forearm was smooth and unmarred. She pushed her hand through her hair, her head spinning. ‘Oh, Traveler, that was intense.’

_[Did it work? What did you see?]_

_The queen was there. I felt her, but I didn’t have enough time to find her._

_[Did Osiris see?]_

_I don’t know._

Ghost blinked its optic at her, and then sank out of sight. She could feel Osiris watching her, wanting to ask what she’d seen. Putting the queen out of her mind for the moment she said, ‘I saw you there. You were the hawk, weren’t you? Do you see what I see?’

‘Not all of it. I get a sense of things around you. I can see you.’

‘Can you? What sort of bird am I?’

He touched her dark hair, smoothing it back from her face. ‘You’re a raven, and your feathers are like black velvet and your eyes glow golden, just like they are now.’

Cresora rubbed her fingers through his chest hair, trying to picture it. It was lovely, but she still didn’t have what she needed. How could she get closer to that vision, and without Osiris seeing it?

She looked into his golden-brown eyes, so reminiscent of the hawk’s she’d seen in her vision. ‘So that’s what you style yourself after. I wondered. I thought you were just flashy.’

He laughed, shaking her on his chest. ‘I’m flashy, am I?’

‘Yes, you’re –‘

But he rolled her beneath him and stoppered her mouth with his. He kissed his way down her body to her sex and she felt him curl his tongue around her clit. Desire sparked through her as he licked her slowly, heating her body from the inside out, making her feel intensely alive, hyperaware of his hands on her thighs and the movements of his tongue. Languidly, she wrapped her legs around his shoulders and smiled up at the ceiling, her eyes closed. She couldn’t stay with Osiris for long, maybe just another day or two while he showed her a few more things about thanatonautics. Then she’d have to move on. But Traveler’s Light it was good being with him now. He sucked on her clit and she moaned and reached down and interlaced her fingers with his.

‘Do you want to hear what I saw?’ she whispered, her eyes closed. She could tell him some things. She would just keep the queen to herself.

He stopped the movements of his tongue long enough to say, ‘You know I do.’

She told him of the rushing lights, the feeling of plummeting, of finding herself in the void. Then the stillness, and realizing she had not arms, but wings. Of feeling them beat against the darkness. Seeing him on the horizon. 

Several times she had to break off and cry out, and he stopped before she could come. This happened three times and she was gripping the sheets with her hands, her eyes clenched tight at yet another denial.

‘Please, please let me come.’

‘Have you told me everything yet?’

‘Yes,’ she said, half-laughing, half whimpering.

‘Lies. Keep going.’

She talked as he lapped at her carefully, just enough to keep her on the precipice but never enough to push her over the edge. She writhed against his mouth, hoping to make up the difference herself, but he took hold of her hips and held her still. She told him how he appeared to her in the darkness, glowing like one of his reflections but more real somehow. More vital.

‘And that’s everything, _please_ let me come.’

He kissed her inner thigh to blot his mouth and sat up and knelt between her legs, looking her over with pleasure. ‘Did you know that you flush the prettiest shade of purple when you’re aroused?’

She reached for him, not interested in talking, but he grasped one of her knees and turned her over, and then raised her hips up to meet his. The tip of his cock slid against he entrance and she pushed back against him. His thickness pierced her and she buried her face in a pillow and moaned. Even that brought her some release and he held still while she moved slowly back and forth on his length, savouring the feel of him, pushing him all the way to the hilt, and then pushing a little further just because the pressure felt so good.

Osiris slid his hands to her waist, gripping tightly, and then began to fuck her. She braced one hand against the wall so that her body would resist every thrust, needing it hard, needing to feel all of him. It was so good, she was nearing her peak again –

The he pulled out. Cresora’s head reared up and she practically snarled over her shoulder, ‘I’m going to murder you in a minute. It’s about my turn anyway.’

He laughed quietly, obviously unrepentant, and slid two fingers into her, rubbing firmly on the sensitive place deep inside her. All the blood rushed to her face but she knew he was going to stop again, and then he did. ‘Having fun?’ she panted.

‘Yes, thank you.’

She felt the silky bluntness of his cock press into her and was aware of every inch of him. His knees pushed hers wider and he began to thrust again and she finally thought of a way to make him keep going, or to at least distract him from keeping so close an eye on when she was about to come. ‘What about you? Tell me what you see.’

He thought for a moment, and then his voice rumbled somewhere over her head. ‘You go to a very different place than I do in my visions. I begin somewhere golden and bright. Yours start in darkness, and I see you, black against the void.’

Her body relaxed as he talked, and she closed her eyes and listened to the vivid descriptions of his own visions. The strange words painted pictures in the darkness behind her eyes and she savoured his words as much as the feel of him. His voice was ragged now, speaking her name, what sounded like curse words or endearments in that other language he knew. As she approached her peak she came up on her hands, arching her spine to drive him deeper. She came first, her orgasm cresting and then cascading through her while he drove it higher with his thrusts. He growled her name and reached forward to grip the nape of her neck. 

Then they both stilled, breathing hard. Osiris put his arms around her spent body, sitting back on his heels and taking her with him, his length still inside her. Her back was flush against his chest and she turned her head and kissed him, both of them panting, her arms wrapping over his own. She laced her fingers through his and held on tightly. 

 _This is what proper lovemaking is, with someone you’re connected with. With someone that you like._ She’d forgotten how it was supposed to be. She’d shared every emotion that she’d felt with Osiris, every sensation. She’d held nothing back. 

Or almost nothing. That dark place where she was sure the queen was, he hadn’t asked about it and she hoped that during the vision he’d been too busy watching her to notice it.

He smiled against her neck. ‘You can murder me now if you like. I don’t mind.’

‘Tempting. Maybe in a minute.’

He released her and they sank down onto the bed together, bodies cooling. She nestled into the crook of his arm as he lay on his back, and propped her chin in his shoulder. ‘Those words you were saying. The lullaby. It was very beautiful. Why was it written?’

He considered this, his hand stroking circles on her behind. ‘It wasn’t so much written as uncovered. Remembered through thanatonautics. There are many parts. Old passages that seem to have special energy to them, that are soothing. I think much of it is ancient poetry or religious texts.’

Words having energy of their own. Magic in their ability to soothe. She liked that. ‘Did you uncover any?’

‘I did. The part I recited to you, though small parts have been changed to make it relevant to thanatonautics. It’s my favourite part.’

‘Oh? Why?’

‘It’s the part for lovers. There’s sweetness to the words that the other passages don’t have.’

For lovers. It was a nice thought, other Guardians wrapped around each other like they were now, whispering the words to each other. Walking in darkness and light together. Seeing stars and velvety night. _I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field … _ 

Cresora felt Osiris watching her speculatively, his fingers tracing patterns on her skin. So, she had a lover. How unexpected that was, though not undesirable. His warmth and the way he touched her was as welcome as his help. 

‘Can I ask you something?’

Wariness prickled her. Rubbing her finger along one of his ribs, she said, ‘If you have to.’

‘I know Eris Morn quite well. I suppose you could say we’re friends, even now. We spent time on missions together before I was exiled and before she, well. Before all the things that happened to her. We went to the Reef together several times.’

Cresora stilled. He’d named one of her fellow Hidden and the Reef in the same sentence. When she looked up at him he was studying her closely. ‘Well? Ask your question.’

He regarded her for a long moment, and then shook his head. ‘Actually, I don’t think I will.’

She sat up, her back to him and her heart pounding. How much did he know? How much had he guessed? Had he seen things in her vision? He’d figured something out despite her best efforts to conceal her secrets. 

He put out a hand to touch her but she shrugged him off. ‘Cresora?’

Getting out of bed she reached for her robes and pulled them around her. Then she bundled up the rest of her clothes in her arms and marched out of the room.

‘Cresora,’ he called after her.

But it was too late. He’d spoiled everything.

* * *

_[Where are we going?]_

_I don’t know. Away from here._

_[The Tower?]_

_No_ , she replied emphatically, doing up the long laces of her boots. There was almost nothing to collect. All she had were her robes and her guns.

Osiris appeared in her doorway, seeming to have paused only to pull on his greaves. He looked at her, the gun in her hands, the sniper rifle already on her back.

‘You’re leaving.’

She checked the magazine of her auto rifle and slammed it back in place. He already seemed to suspect so much. About her, about the Reef. She had a terrible feeling he was going to find out everything about her whether she wanted to tell him or not. ‘I am. I don’t like what we’re doing. I’ve changed my mind about thanatonautics.’

‘I don’t think that’s true, Cresora.’

He watched her silently as if trying to puzzle her out. She didn’t owe him anything but she hated leaving lose ends behind her. They had a habit of reappearing when you least expected and tying you in knots.

‘It’s very powerful what we’re doing. I’m not used to it and I don’t like it.’ She didn’t feel safe here, not when he was rooting around inside her head. He was strange and cunning and secretive and she couldn’t be more attracted to him. If she stayed then she’d reveal everything to him in time even if she didn’t mean to, and she couldn’t bear someone else having power over her like Uldren had.

His brow cleared, as if he understood what she wasn’t saying. ‘I don’t need to know what you’re looking for and I won’t intrude on your visions or even be in the same room with you unless you want me to be. Just stay here until you’ve found what you need. Sagira will guide you. She won’t see what you see. She’ll keep you safe.’

Cresora kept her head bent, pretending to examine the rifle. It was tempting. She’d seen the faith Osiris and Sagira put in each other and the strength of their connection. Sagira had been with Osiris through all his visions and the pretty golden Ghost must know so much that she could share with Cresora. She could even teach her own Ghost what to do.

But there would still be Osiris near her, with his charm and his shrewd gaze, tempting her to confide in him, to trust him.

‘I’ve had enough of thanatonautics. I’m not going to do it anymore.’

‘I don’t believe you.’

She holstered the auto rifle on her back. ‘I couldn’t care less.’

He put a hand on her arm as she tried to push past him. ‘It’s not just Tower prejudice that aligns madness with thanatonautics. Sometimes it really happens. There are important things that I didn’t tell –’

‘Having too much fun to be a good teacher? Can’t keep a student’s loyalty, can you.’

His eyes were narrowed and cold as he watched her fasten on her helmet and walk away. Outside the spire his reflections tracked her silently, that same angry expression in their eyes, limned in gold.

* * *

Cresora went to Io, where she knew the grouchy, cantankerous Asher would leave her alone, and holed up in a shallow cave on the far side of the Pyramidion. Ghost was able to transmat her some supplies from her vault but she didn’t need much for what she planned to do.

As she lay on a pallet on the ground she watched the sunrise paint the sides of the Pyramidion a tender shade of pink. Once her mind was clear, she got out a handcannon, bit down on a fold of her robe and shot herself three times in the thigh.

As she reeled, gasping and snorting in pain, Ghost hovered over her, flashing and whirring.

_[I don’t know how long to leave you in there for – what if something happens –]_

_I’ll be all right. Just do whatever Osiris told you to do. But maybe give me one or two more minutes. I didn’t have time to find out anything those other times._

_[But Osiris said –]_

_I don’t give a damn what Osiris said._

It took a long time to die and there was no one there to distract her from the pain. To hold her, whisper to her. To keep her warm. As much as she wanted to ignore what he’d said his words kept revolving through her mind. Madness. Could this really send her mad?

When she died, she didn’t so much as find herself in her vision but was hurled violently into it. Cresora tumbled over and over in the void, unable to stop the world from spinning and herself within it. This wasn’t how it had been with Osiris. The blackness around her felt like hatred, shame and fear, coalesced into suffocating darkness. Her ears were filled with cruel laughter and screaming. Then the screaming grew so loud and she realised it was the queen screaming and as if a veil was ripped away she saw Mara Sov’s white face, contorted in agony, her mouth open in a long, endless wail. It was like her nightmare only much, much worse, because she couldn’t wake up.

Cresora looked around frantically for any sign of where she was but the vision was black as night all around. _Bring me back Ghost, please_ , she begged, knowing that Ghost couldn’t hear her and that it was only doing as she’d asked, giving her more time in this horrible place. She put her wings over her head, trying to block out the screaming.

Light cascaded through her and she came gasping and shuddering back into her body. The world was still spinning and she crawled on her hands and knees to the cave entrance and threw up.

_[Cresora! You’re shaking. That’s it, we’re not trying that again.]_

Berating herself for her cowardice, she went back to her pallet, lay down, and picked up the gun. 

_[No! You’re going to hurt yourself and I won’t be able to make it better.]_

_It’s worse for the queen. You didn’t see what I saw._

_[She doesn’t –]_

_No matter what she did to me, she doesn’t deserve this._ Before she could change her mind, Cresora pulled the trigger.

It was exactly the same terrifying, useless vision and when she came out of it Ghost begged her again to stop. But she doggedly pulled the trigger, refusing to think about anything except getting back inside the vision.

She tried again, and again, and it was the same every time. Pain, darkness and terror.

On the eighth try, or maybe the ninth, a bird came screaming out of the darkness toward her, a golden brown streak of feathers and fury. He had his talons up and she thought he was going to attack her, but he only hovered before her, wings beating the air, yellow eyes flashing.

Cresora twisted and flew away. Not fleeing, but showing him she didn’t care how angry he was with her. This was her decision and not his to approve or disapprove._ _She heard his shrill scream as he chased her through the void. She drew him away from the queen’s torment, flying faster and faster with him right on her tail.

When she opened her eyes and saw the Pyramidion Osiris’ hawk cry was still sounding in her ears. How had he found her? If he appeared again she would attack him. She had no qualms about tearing every feather out of his golden tail.

As she picked up the handgun and reloaded it she saw a silver shimmer.

_[Uh-oh.]_

A triangular portal opened at the cave’s entrance and out stepped Osiris. There was anger in every line of his body as his gaze darted around. His eyes beneath the golden helm were the furious hawk’s and they fastened on the gun in her hand, the blood on the stone.

He yanked down his bandana. ‘You lied to me.’

Cresora had been shaking since her first passage and she tried her hardest to quell it as she sat up. ‘How did you find me?’

‘A little trace of my own.’

That last scream she’d heard from the hawk, the sound that chased her into consciousness. He’d been marking her somehow. ‘How clever. Go away.’

He hunkered down before her, examining her face. Cold sweat beaded her brow and she swiped at it angrily with her forearm.

‘Why won’t you let me help you?’

She hated the pity in his eyes. She was a poor, confused Warlock who wanted to be loved by the Reef Awoken. If only it was simple as that. ‘Because I don’t trust you. You’re manipulative and secretive.’

‘As are you, Cresora.’

She gestured wildly with the gun. ‘I’m like this because I have to be. You _enjoy_ it. How strange and clever you are. How your ridiculous followers _adore_ you.’

‘I wouldn’t have started teaching you if I thought you were going to be so reckless with it.’

‘That’s your fault, isn’t it? You didn’t seem particularly keen on waiting to find out what sort of person I was.’

His jaw clenched and he watched her with a seething expression. What a surprise, the ‘Great Osiris’ didn’t like having his faults pointed out to him.

‘Do I have to go to the City to get away from you? Because I will. Oh, and speaking of the City, Ikora was wrong to invite you to return. Yes, I do know about that. Your permanent banishment is justified.’

‘Is it,’ he bit out.

‘Yes. By what you did at Twilight Gap. Or rather, what you _didn’t_ do, commander. Shaxx and Saladin still aren’t speaking, did you know?’

‘Titans are stubborn to the point of stupidity.’

‘Oh, are they. I happen to know a few stubborn and stupid Warlocks as well.’

‘My exile is none of your business and if you’re trying to pick a fight to distract me you’re not being terribly subtle about it.’

Cresora got to her feet, throwing the gun onto the pallet. She would have to wait until he was gone to try again.

He followed her to the cave entrance. ‘Guardians die, whether at Twilight Gap or in the field. It’s not a very remarkable fact. But I don’t like losing students for pointless reasons.’

‘My wishes are not pointless!’

‘No, but theirs are. The Reef Awoken. I know what you’re trying to see has got something to do with them and they will still sneer at you, look down on you, no matter what you do for them.’

‘So I’m not to do it for me and I’m not to do it for them. You’d rather I do it your way, with you, for you.’

He ground his teeth, seeming at the very end of his patience. ‘Cresora, you know that’s not what I’m asking. What are you afraid of me seeing?’

Cresora’s mouth snapped shut and she turned away, her face flaming.  

_[I thought so.]_

_Shut up._

He stepped closer, moving around to see her face. He was silent for a long time, watching her. ‘It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I like you very much, too.’

‘You shut up as well.’ He put a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged him off and turned away. She had a barb ready on her tongue to fling at him – _of course the Great Osiris believes I’m besotted with him _ – but even through her anger and shame she hated how shrill and defensive she was becoming.

Cresora took a shaky breath. ‘It’s not that. It’s… I’ve had to do horrible things as one of the Hidden and I don’t like people knowing about them. _Anyone_.’

The silence stretched. She could feel him waiting for her to go on. ‘I’ve taken shortcuts because I’m lazy and it disgusts me that it wasn’t even worth it in the end. I can’t bear the thought of anyone seeing the things I did.’

‘You’re not lazy. You’re extremely dedicated and if you weren’t so upset with yourself you’d see that.’

_[You know I don’t like him very much, but I believe that he sincerely likes you.]_

_That’s fucking worse then._

_[Sorry.]_

She felt his keen eyes on the side of her neck.

‘Is this something to do with Prince Uldren?’

A wave of self-disgust rolled through her. So he knew even that, or he knew enough to guess. ‘I went to bed with you because I wanted to,’ she said tightly, hot tears spilling down her face. ‘Not to get something out of you. Maybe at first I was – oh, _damn it all to fucking hell_.’

She buried her face in her hands so he wouldn’t see. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder, his thumb caressing her neck. When she didn’t shrug him off he turned her toward him and put his arms around her. She hid her face in his chest so he wouldn’t see her trying not to cry.

_Ghost? Can you transmat me out of here please?_

_[No.]_

_Traitor._ And she burst into tears.

* * *

Osiris held her while she cried, knowing that she was releasing months of bottled up emotions all at once. He and her Ghost watched each other silently. He’d had the impression that the robot didn’t like him very much, but at that moment he could have sworn there was something approving in its synthetic blue gaze. It was tough when your only friend was an AI. Tough on them, too.

Cresora wiped her face and pulled away. ‘I’m all right now,’ she said in a husky voice.

He looked down at her, perplexed, wanting to give her some peace and privacy but still worried about her. Self-disgust had never much plagued him but he could see it was crippling her. The sensitive side of being a mentor wasn’t one of his strengths but he had to say something. ‘I’ve made a lot of people angry with me over the cycles and I can honestly say not once has it bothered me.’

She sniffed gloomily. ‘Lucky you.’

‘But that means I don’t begrudge people their mistakes.’ That was a lie. Other people’s mistakes were a waste of his time. But after a show of temper he usually forgave. Or rather, forgot, because he was busy doing other things.

Even through her misery she managed a small smile. ‘Are you admitting to having made mistakes?’

He stroked her damp hair back from face, and put a finger under her chin, raising her eyes to his. ‘I’m saying that there a thousand things I would devote my time to before I thought even one less than admiring thought about you.’

That, at least, was the whole truth.

She gazed at him with red-rimmed eyes, a frank, assessing look. In all his dealings with the Hidden he’d never found them to be a particularly trusting set of Guardians. They spent too much time alone telling too many lies.

‘I’m so tired of thinking about them,’ she whispered. ‘I want to put an end to this chapter of my life and this is the only way.’

‘Then let me help you.’ If she had to go back to that terrible place then she should at least not have to go alone.

Cresora thought it over for a long time, and then finally she nodded.

* * *

He took her back to the forest, and as they walked the stone pathways up to the spire she told him about her vision. Her first one.

‘It was during the Red War. I’d been shot in the stomach and I was dying my last death on the Farm. My head was filled with her, Mara Sov, and how I wouldn’t live to put that terrible time behind me. It was ... worse than knowing I was dying. Another few hours, maybe even another hour, and it would have been too late for me. I saw the Light spread throughout the universe and then I was sucked down into this small, dark place, and I saw her.’

Osiris had heard of first visions happening that way sometimes. A slow death. Strong emotions. 

‘I feel like I was given a second chance to put things right.’

Osiris felt his mouth twist in annoyance. ‘Your life wasn’t given back to you for her sake.’

‘No. I meant for mine. The queen isn’t dead like everyone thinks. She’s in pain, terrible pain, and she’s trapped. I don’t know where and I haven’t been able to make one Reef Awoken listen to me, and the prince has disappeared.’

_What Uldren did to me._

_I went to bed with you because I wanted to. Not to get something out of you._

The scraps of what he’d felt through her visions and the things she’d told him, the prickly way she’d behaved towards him when he asked questions, began to assemble into a complete, ugly picture. Osiris remembered the disdain in the queen’s eyes as he and Eris had stood before her throne, emissaries from the Tower. Anger burned through him at the thought of what Cresora had been putting herself through in order to help a woman who loathed her.

He would help uncover the rest of Cresora’s vision but there was no doubt in his mind who he was doing it for.

In his room he gathered the things they would need.

‘Knives again?’ she asked.

He shook his head, making up a preparation, pounding a dried plant in a mortar and pestle and mixing it with wine and water. 

Pouring the mixture into a cup he held it out to her. She sniffed the cup. ‘What is it?’

‘Hemlock. It’s one of the few poisons that work for thanatonautics.’

‘What does it do?’

‘It paralyses you slowly from the feet up. When it reaches your heart, you die.’

‘Oh. Fun.’

‘It doesn’t hurt. You feel numb and warm. And it doesn’t dampen visions which is the most important part. Drink. About a third should do it.’

‘What about the rest?’

‘It’s for me. I’m going with you this time. Properly, not just at the edges.’

She hesitated, the cup near her lips. ‘You don’t think I should be doing this for her, do you?’

He said nothing. She could make her peace with the things she’d done at a later time. All that mattered for the moment was getting that vision for her in the safest possible way.

Cresora drank, grimacing at the taste, and he inspected the cup.

‘More.’

She took another swallow and handed it back. That should do it. He drank the rest down and put the cup aside.

Looking at her fingers and toes, she said, ‘Nothing’s happening.’

‘It takes a while. Let’s go for a walk.’

He took out his cubes and summoned a portal, and they stepped through into Past Mercury. She looked around in surprise at the grasslands and rivers bathed in gentle sunshine. They walked together, following a stream, and he watched her as she took in the beauty of the place. 

There hadn’t been time for him to form anything like a friendship since his exile. Now that he had Sagira back and that dark future he’d glimpsed had been averted it meant he could take stock of what he had and what he wanted. The company of clever Warlocks had always been his favourite. Cresora neither flattered nor disdained him. And she felt like heaven in his arms. 

He opened his mouth to tell her that he’d meant what he said, that he liked her very much, but she was looking at her feet and frowning.

‘Osiris? I can’t feel my toes.’

Later, then. This wasn’t the time. He led her over to a patch of shady grass beneath a tree and they lay down together. She put a hand on his chest, uncertain, and he drew her to him, holding her tightly. Even as he grew numb he could feel her Light burning in every place she touched him.

‘You said this was dangerous to do without someone watching over us.’

‘Sagira will be looking after us. She’s done this for me many times.’

_[I’ll be right here, Cresora. Osiris knows what he’s doing.]_

He felt her smile against his chest. ‘Your Ghost loves you very much.’

‘She does, _einayim shell_.’

‘Will you whisper me that passage again? The one for lovers?’

He closed his eyes and bent his head so that his lips were against her hair, and murmured the words that he knew by heart. When he reached the end he started again, but in the language in which he’d first uncovered it. As the minutes passed it became harder and harder to keep talking as the hemlock was nearing his lungs. Cresora was as still as stone in his arms.

‘Cresora?’ he whispered. She didn’t answer.

He’d drank more of the poison because he’d wanted to go first, so that she wouldn’t have to be alone in that place, but he was still stubbornly conscious. It took several more minutes for the poison to stop his heart and for him to sink into darkness.

Osiris opened his eyes, and saw the raven. She flew to him, nipping at his feathers impatiently and then turning to lead them down into a place so dark it seemed to suck up light itself. There was no hesitation on her part but as he skimmed the air behind her he could sense her fear.

Then he heard the screaming.

The raven shuddered to a halt, staring at something as if paralysed. He moved around her and saw the queen. It was as she’d described, Mara Sov trapped in darkness, writhing as if in pain. There were portals into nothing all around her but he could distinguish nothing else. They needed to move outward and see where this place lay. He brushed her wings, trying to get her attention. Finally she shook herself and they flew in a slow spiral, upward, outward. The vision began to take shape. His eyes darted around, seeing vast rooms. Hive structures. The icy rings of a planet.

The Dreadnaught.

The raven fluttered mid-air, its golden eyes wide with surprise as she finally saw where the queen was. Then she opened her beak and called a long, keening note. Arc energy raced over her feathers and was cast down toward Mara Sov, a trace she could follow in the waking world.

Osiris swooped over her, around her, knowing they had little time before their Ghosts called them back. They took flight, wings skimming close on the currents of the void. Enough of this place. He wanted to show her how it could be golden.

There was a glimmer on the horizon that was as familiar to him as his own Light. They were nearly there –

Light shuddered through him. He opened his eyes and saw with sinking disappointment the grasslands of Mercury. Cresora stirred in his arms and sat up with a cry.

‘We _found_ her. I know where she is. _Osiris_.’ She clasped his robes, giddy with relief and excitement.

Osiris smiled tightly and glanced at Sagira, who was watching him closely. It wasn’t her fault. She given them enough time for what they’d gone for.

He got to his feet and saw that Cresora was already looking around for her guns, her helm, that she intended to go right away.

‘I’ll come with you. The Dreadnaught is as big as a planet. My reflections can –’

‘No. I’d rather go alone. It’s how I’m used to working and I know I can find her.’

He watched her in silence, taut with irritation, his earlier unspoken words still unspoken and incongruous now she was so eager to be gone. _One more minute, Sagira_ , he thought bitterly, though unlike Cresora’s Ghost Sagira couldn’t hear his thoughts. _She thinks it’s all darkness. She doesn’t know what I  can show her. _

Fishing out his cubes he opened a portal. ‘One thing first, little bird, before you fly away. Back to the spire.’

In his room he put several documents into her hands, maps of the Dreadnaught and information about Hive structures. It wasn’t much but he had to do this at least, if only to delay the inevitable. 

She noticed the sniper rifle sitting to one side, the one she’d used that first day, and she took that too. 

Finally, he summoned another portal. ‘This will take you to a safe landing zone on the Dreadnaught.’ He stood back, waiting for her to leave.

Cresora hesitated before the shimmering triangle, and then turned and pressed a kiss to his lips. ‘Thank you, for everything. You’re …’ 

He studied her golden eyes, wondering if there were things she hadn’t had time to say, either. 

‘If anything happens to me please see that Uldren hears where his sister is.’

She fitted her helmet over her head, gave him one last nod, and was gone.

* * *

Nearly two weeks passed and he’d heard nothing from her. She hadn’t promised that she would let him know how she fared but he’d been sure she’d send word of her success or failure. Sagira tried to get a message to Eris but it was the same as it had been since the Red War. She was uncontactable.

Finally, he came out of the Infinite Forest and opened a channel through his Ghost’s to Ikora’s. His old student sounded surprised to hear his voice.

‘I’m looking for news of one of your Warlocks. Cresora.’

There was a puzzled silence on the channel. ‘How do you know Cresora?’

‘I just do. Has she returned? When was the last time you heard from her?’

But Ikora remained evasive as always about her spies. ‘Cresora missed several check-ins with me.’

‘I know. She was with me. In the forest.’ More silence. He felt his patience running away like sand. ‘Yes, I do know she’s one of your Hidden. I’m not asking for your secrets, I just want to know if you’ve heard from her in the last two weeks. That was when she left me.’

‘Where did she go when she left you?’

‘To the Dreadnaught.’

This seemed to confirm something Ikora knew. ‘I sent some Fireteams but they – You’ve always got on with my Hidden, in some ways better than I do. I know you and Eris are close. If Cresora was your friend too then I’m sorry to tell you that her Ghost came back from the Dreadnaught without her a few days ago.’

Osiris closed his eyes.

Ikora went on heavily. ‘It’s my fault. I knew she was under emotional strain when I –’

He severed the connection. In silence he watched a hobgoblin pick its way across the sands in the distance.

Sagira spoke gently. _[Osiris, I –]_

He turned on his heel and strode back into the Infinite Forest, letting time and space swallow him up. There wasn’t anything he could do, no timeline that he could find her in. No reality that still held her.

_If anything happens to me see that Uldren hears where his sister is._

It was her last wish but it was pathetic and naïve and he hated it. What had she even hoped to get from the Reef Awoken? He remembered their coldness, their pride, their sneering. He and Eris had privately despised and laughed at them, but Cresora had taken their contempt to heart and put herself though hell for them. And now she was gone. All he had left were her last wishes. 

He stopped in his tracks. He imagined finding the Prince and telling them what he knew. Uldren’s indifferent eyes when he heard what Cresora had done for Mara Sov. Uldren would find his sister and the Reef would be restored, and they’d never think of Cresora again and the sacrifice she’d made for their cold, unfeeling hearts.

Osiris’ lip curled. Fuck the Reef. Fuck the prince. And fuck, especially, the queen. Let her suffer where she is for her very long, Awoken lifetime.

He kept walking, deeper into the forest and further away from the reality that contained every worthless Awoken in the universe except the only one that mattered.

 

THE END

 

* * *

 _'Einayim shell’_ means ‘my eyes’ and it’s a Hebrew phrase meaning something very precious.

_The passages Osiris recites to Cresora are adapted from ‘The Song of Solomon’, the last book of the Hebrew bible and one of the books of the Old testament._

_Thank you so much for reading this story. I enjoyed writing it so much and I hope you enjoyed it too. Find me on Tumblr: https://dngrs-untld-hrshps-unnmbrd.tumblr.com/_

 

**_Update: That is the end of the main story, and some some short posts that elaborate on their relationship follow._**


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some short fan lore that accompanies the story.

**RAVEN’S FLIGHT EXOTIC SNIPER RIFLE**

_“Meditations can take many forms. Some are deadlier than others.” – Osiris_

* * *

**GHOST SHELL RECORDING // INFINITE FOREST**

CR: What are you going to call it? Every good gun has to have a name.

OS: It’s stealthy. It’s elegant. Something beautiful that you don’t see coming. I thought Raven’s Flight.

CR: Always laying on the charm, Osiris.

OS: Humour me. I haven’t had a muse in a long time.

CR: If you’re going to name it after me then you’ll have to do something about the balance. It’s weighted for a much taller person.

OS: Yes, little bird.

CR: And the grip could have more give to it. It makes my hand hurt.

OS: Yes, little bird.

CR: Thank you, big bird.

OS: Cresora, please.

CR: It really is a beautiful gun. Can I … take it with me when I go?

[Silence]

OS: But it’s my only one. What if I never get it back.

[Silence]

[End recording]


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a Dawning series I wrote for all my OCs with a snow theme xx

The grass was cool and thick with shadows and Cresora pulled him down beneath the spreading branches of a pink tree. She’d persuaded him so sweetly away from his work that he couldn’t say no.

An impish look on her face, so different to her usual tense, introspective expression, she shifted into his lap, straddling him, her small body a soft, warm weight in his arms. Stroking her fingers through his beard she asked, “Is there anything that you miss? From before?”

Before he was banished. He looked around him, thinking. “Snow. There’s no snow on Mercury. This time of year it will be falling at the Tower.”

“Snow,” she said softly. She leaned close, fluttering her eyelashes against his cheek, and then whispered in his ear, “Close your eyes.”

He gave her a narrow, amused look, and then did as he was asked. Her weight left his lap, her footfalls faded away. Then something soft and cold began falling on his face.

“Osiris.”

When he opened his eyes he saw only white. Snow, falling thick and fast, obliterating the trees and sky of the Simulant Past. And Cresora.

A figure moved toward him, obscured and indistint. Then she took form, the outline of her curves, her dark hair. She’d taken off her robes and the snow fell on her bare, pale purple skin, a vision so beautiful amid the flurries that he could only stare at her, barely breathing.

Cresora sank down to her knees before him, flakes melting on her shoulders. Her nipples were dark and budded. “I’m cold,” she whispered, her soft breath against his mouth.

He wrapped his arms tightly around her, summoning Solar energy to his palms and pulling her close, cradling against him. One after another, his reflections strode forward and melded against her, adding their warmth, stroking her skin and bathing her in their golden glow.

She looked around at the figures, and then closed her eyes, leaning into a golden hand as it stroked her cheek. “Are you telling them to do this?”

But they were doing this on their own, warming this small, sweet creature who’d made it snow on the planet closest to the sun and in a place that didn’t even exist anymore. He kissed her, melting snowflakes between their lips and feeling the faint crackle of her Arc energy. The storm she’d called was falling softly around them, a white cocoon shielding them from the world while his golden reflections kept them warm.

She reached up and touched his face, her eyes very bright. “I wish I could stay here forever with you.”

Forever. Before. Soon. Never. The words had less and less meaning the more simulations he ran, the more timelines he walked. But this was real, she was real in his arms, even if everything else was an invention.

He brushed snowflakes from her hair, smiling down at her. “If there are infinite possibilities in infinite timelines, little bird, maybe somewhere we are.”

* * *

 

_Thank you for reading xx_


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set after the events of the main story.

Cresora put a hand to her stomach and it came away slimy and greenish-black. The Wizard had slit her open with its claws three days ago and the wound had gone septic. She hadn’t seen her Ghost for a long time. It thought she was dead. The crystals had confused it. 

By some animal instinct she crawled on her belly deeper into the tunnel, looking for somewhere dark and quiet to die in peace. It didn’t bother her as much as she thought it might, dying her last death. Not this time. Osiris would wait to hear word from her and then he would find the prince or someone from the Reef. He’d finish what she’d been unable to do and rescue the queen. Every loose thread was taken care of. 

Or, almost every thread. She traced Osiris’ memory in her mind, his warm brown eyes, his golden feel beneath the touch of her feathers. His body and his ethereal form had merged in her mind until they were one shining being, and as she closed her eyes and rested her cheek in the dirt she wondered what it was he’d wanted to show her at the end of their vision. They’d been on the cusp of some other place that he’d been fighting to reach when Sagira and her Ghost had called them back. She’d awoken in his arms and he’d tried to hide the disappointment from his face.

But she’d seen it. Bitter disappointment, and as she sank down through the layers of consciousness into familiar dark, wintry chill, she wished she could go wherever it was he’d been trying to take her.  _Osiris, I’m so cold._

Her skin rippled and bubbled, black feathers sprouting. It wouldn’t be long now, and though she wouldn’t find him in that place she knew her last act in this world would be to open her eyes in that lightless void and search the horizon for something golden, suspended on the horizon.

Light blazed, silver light, shimmering and pulsing and painfully bright behind her eyelids. There was no need to look. It would be an Ogre lumbering toward her, or a Knight with a fiery sword. But she had to look, if only to fool herself that she wasn’t afraid to meet her death in this forsaken place. Slowly, stubbornly, she summoned the last of her strength, and opening her eyes a crack she saw a shape in midair. A square. No. A triangle. Vex on the Dreadnaught. Someone else’s concern now. 

As she sank down into unconsciousness again she had the sensation of being lifted, of being held tightly, of being warmed.

“Hold on, little bird. Hold on.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cresora deals with the fallout from Osiris’ actions and none of us are surprised by that even a little bit, are we Osiris.
> 
> I’m bringing my other OCs into this chapter because Cresora is going to need some backup. Roll call! Piax is my blue-haired human Titan, good-natured, muddy and tomboyish; dating Zavala. Andara’s my resting-bitch-face Awoken Warlock with a mute Ghost; dating Shiro-4 when he’s around but mostly they just use each other for target practice. And Mercy—you all know Mercy, right? Mouthy Hunter. Arcstripper. Likes big, growly aliens; boffing Mithrax the Forsaken and is pretty fond of him too.
> 
> We’re going to go back in time for the first scene, to just after the Red War and before the events of Curse of Osiris. Then the chronology will continue from the end of Part Five, when you-know-who comes through the Vex gate on the Dreadnaught.

 

 

**_The Tower, post-Red War_ **

Cresora made it out of Ikora’s quarters without crying, but only just. She stood by the shuttered ramen shop in the thin dawn light, wiping her eyes. What a mess. She’d compromised not only her mission but herself as well, and for nothing. How could she even begin to put things right?

_How am I going to stop feeling so disgusted with myself and the things I did?_

“Hey.”

Another Awoken Warlock with lop-sided purple hair was looking at her and scowling. “Did Ikora bawl you out? That sucks.”

Cresora looked around the deserted Bazaar, searching for an excuse to leave.

“Are you new? I haven’t seen you before. I’m—I’m Andara.” Andara scowled deeper as if she’d _I’m angry_ instead of _I’m Andara_.

Cresora was about to say something about having to go when a breathless, blue-haired Titan appeared next to the Warlock. “There you are. Where’s Mercy?”

“I don’t know. I was just talking to this new Warlock because she was crying.”

The Titan beamed at her friend. “You were? All on your own? Andara, I’m so proud of you.”

Andara rolled her eyes. “Give it a bone, would you.” To Cresora she said, “Piax doesn’t think I have any social skills. Who are you, anyway?”

“ _Andara_. Oh look, there’s Mercy.”

All three women turned to look at a Hunter sauntering across the Bazaar to join them. She was dressed in form-fitting silver and black gear and had a long, purple House of Dusk cloak draped around her shoulders.

Andara wrinkled her nose. “Do you have to wear that? It’s like a target on your back if we meet other Guardians in the field.”

“I know,” the Hunter said mournfully, pulling the fabric out to examine it. “It getting so many bullet holes in it. But why shouldn’t I wear it? Shiro wears Fallen banners.”

“Stitched together from the dozens of Fallen he’s murdered, not fu—”

Piax cleared her throat.

“Hey, new girl.” Mercy said to Cresora, before turning to Piax. “Did you hear about Osiris?”

Cresora thought she saw Andara stiffen, and Piax slid her friend a look. “What about him?”

“There’s a rumour he’s trapped in some Vex simulation without his Ghost.”

“Good,” muttered Andara.

“Oh? Have you met him?” Mercy asked.

They were all talking as if they’d known Cresora forever and she was part of their Fireteam. It was weird. How was she going to get away?

Andara was still scowling, so Piax provided, “Not exactly. Not that she can remember. It’s complicated. I never met him either, of course, because I’m such a baby. Have you met him?”

“Oh, yeah. Back when he was Vanguard Commander. Sent me and my Fireteam off to Mercury chasing some Vex mind.”

“What was he like?”

“Big. Impatient. Such a poser, but kind of sexy in this grizzled old man way. Almost said _Yes, daddy_ instead of _Yes, sir_ when he finished his briefing.”

Andara mimed gagging.

Mercy gave her a lazy grin. “You’re such a prude.”

“And you’ll fuck anyth—“

Piaxed clapped her hands. “All right, time to go. Lord Saladin is expecting us.” She turned to Cresora. “You’re welcome to join us if you like. We’re not running priority missions. Have you got your own Fireteam yet?”

But Cresora was backing away, muttering vague excuses, and she turned and hurried toward the hanger. The last thing she needed was to be around people right now. And she had her mission: patrol Mercury. Ikora hadn’t given her a reason for her assignment. Now, thanks to these Guardians, she knew why Mercury was suddenly a priority.

* * *

**_The Tower, Present day_ **

A brisk wind blew rose petals around the Plaza. Zavala looked at Piax and smiled. There were more rose petals in her hair and her face was grimy with sweat and dust. “Hello, sweetheart. I hear you two won every Crimson doubles match you entered.”

The taller Titan grinned. “Yep, every match. Andara had some frustrations to work out.” She nibbled on her lip, thoughtful. “Are you sure she can’t know where Shiro is? It doesn’t seem right. It would break my heart if it was you.”

Zavala shook his head. “It’s not up to me. The Consensus decided and he agreed. It won’t be forever, if that’s any comfort to Andara.”

“I know,” Piax said gloomily. “It’s just that—”

She broke off as a strange grinding sound filled the air. There was an explosion of silver light, and then a triangular Vex portal appeared just a few feet from where there were standing. What the hell? She pulled her rifle from her back and braced for gunfire.

Zavala called across to the gunsmith. “ _Banshee_.”

The Exo, understanding immediately, threw an auto rifle across the thirty foot gap and Zavala caught it, checked the clip and aimed it at the portal. A dozen more Guardians came running, pulling the weapons from their back and standing in an attack formation before the glowing portal.

A few tense seconds passed, and then a large figure stepped through cradling a dirty bundle in his arms. It wasn’t moving. The figure looked around at the two dozen weapons pointed at his head and in an angry, accented voice ordered, “Stand down.”

The Guardians didn’t move, but the unknown man ignored them and laid his bundle out on the concrete.

Piax saw it was a young woman and her face was a terrible grey and her eyes were closed. “I know her. She’s a Warlock. He looks like a Warlock, too.”

“He is,” Zavala muttered, stepping forward. “Stand down, all of you. Osiris?”

Piax felt her eyebrows shoot up. So this was the Osiris she’d heard so much about. The Guardians followed their Vanguard leader’s order and lowered their guns.

The exiled Warlock’s voice was husky with emotion. “Her Ghost. Ikora has it.” A spiky golden Ghost whirred by his shoulder. _[I’ll find Ikora. Stay with her.]_

Zavala pointed to his left. “That way, Sagira. Down in the bazaar.” He watched the Ghost race off, angry about the Vex portal that had appeared in the middle of the Tower, though it did seem like it was an emergency. He stood over Osiris, his jaw clenched.

Piax put a hand on the barrel of his gun, gently pushing it down. He hadn’t realized he’d still been aiming at the former Vanguard Commander.

Osiris was picking at the mess of ruined robes and black, slimy blood and gore covering the Warlock’s midsection. He was muttering under his breath and though she couldn’t understand the strange words he sounded bleak and angry.

A minute passed, and Osiris looked up wildly at the circle of people around him. His gaze fixed on Zavala and he yanked his bandana down. “ _Laazazel!_ Where is her Ghost?”

No one replied, and he pulled the Warlock into his arms and began speaking in a low, cracked whisper. It sounded like some sort of chant. The breeze scattered them with pink and red rose petals as black blood seeped over the ground.

Andara had appeared by Piax’s side and she said softly, “Why is he saying that? It’s from _The Thanatonaut’s Lullaby_.”

“Is it? I think it’s because she’s dying. No Ghost.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. Come on. We should move back.”

The two women drew back to the Cryptarch’s tent and watched Osiris and the girl on the ground, Zavala standing a few feet away. The minutes ticked by and the unconscious girl didn’t move. It didn’t even seem like she was breathing.

Then, finally, the golden Ghost reappeared, another at its side.

_[Osiris! I found him. Cresora’s Ghost. Is she still alive?]_

* * *

Cresora opened her eyes and saw Osiris slumped in a chair, fist pressed against his temple and his eyes closed.

Her throat was dry but she managed to say, in a cracked whisper. “Hey, big bird.”

He sat up with a sharp intake of breath, blinking to clear his eyes. “Cresora.” He came across to the bed and gripped her hand, cursing or saying endearments, she couldn’t tell which.

She vaguely remembered waking up on the ground in the Tower, Osiris holding her. That Titan woman had helped her into bed. Piax. That was her name. And this was her flat. She’d been so out of it after her Ghost revival, full of Hive poison and completely exhausted from days staying awake. Trying to stay alive.

And miraculously, she was. She pulled Osiris down against her. “You found me,” she whispered between kisses. “You found me.” She ran her tongue over his lower lip and sucked it gently into her mouth, her strength pouring back as she felt his Light humming against hers.

His voice was rough as he broke the kiss. “I shouldn’t have let you go alone. You could have died. You wanted to die, didn’t you? Cresora, I’m not going to let you do anything like that ever again.”

She smiled, his beard bristles rough against her lips. “That’s not up to you.”

“It will be, little bird. I’ll find a way. Don’t think I’m too proud bring Ikora into this.”

Cresora kissed him again, arching against him, and he groaned and wrapped his arms tightly around her, feeling her body through the thin nightshirt, rucking it up to her waist. His thumbs rubbed over her ribs and she gasped against his mouth. He pushed the shirt up further, and her underwear down her legs, kissing her all over with hungry, open-mouthed kisses while she did her best to remove his complicated robes.

“I’ve missed you,” she breathed, her eyes closed as he sucked one of her nipples into his mouth. “You heard me, didn’t you? Saying your name. I was dying and you followed the sound of my voice.”

He sat up and pulled his robes off and sank back down to her. He had her spread open beneath him and when he felt her slipperiness against his fingers he was too impatient to wait. He took himself in his hand, the blunt tip of his cock sliding down her sex. She put her hand over his, guiding him in, and pulled him closer with a cry as he sank into her.

“I mean it,” he growled as he thrust into her, barely remembering what he did mean, only that he meant this, what he was doing, very much. He wanted her here, beneath him, with her small body wrapped tightly around him, hot and tight and his. Where he could see her. Where he knew she was safe.

He pushed her thighs up to her shoulders and bore down heavily, needing to drive himself deeper. Pleasure-pain flickered over her face and her nails dug into his shoulders. “Am I hurting you?” he asked, easing up a little.

“Yes. Please don’t stop.” She breathed hard in time with his thrusts, open mouthed, watching him. She took him all the way to the hilt, over and over, her golden eyes darkening and becoming unfocused but never looking away from his face. He didn’t really believe yet that he had her back, that after weeks of despair, she was here, hot and vital and alive beneath him. They’d barely had any time together but he was hungry for more of her. Her cleverness. Her soft, yielding body. That dense black expanse of her visions that lived inside her, unexplored. But that would come later. He didn’t want her dying now. It was too painful a thought, not when she’d nearly died her last death in his arms. He’d whispered the lullaby to ease her passing, his voice thick in his throat, needing to make it easier in any way he could. Not knowing if she was already gone.

She licked her fingers and reached down between them, rubbing on her clit. He was fascinated by the delicate movements of her hand, that tiny spot that caused such pleasure with the smallest of touches alongside his long, rough thrusts. Sweet little bird. Her skin glowing. Her eyes bright and golden.

He felt her tightening around him, crying out in harsh, urgent sounds, and then her head fell back and she clamped down on his cock, her body arching against his. Fuck, she was so beautiful. Perfect and whole when just a short time ago she’d been rank with death. _I’m the only one who gets to push her that close to the precipice_ , he thought, eyeing her throat in the seconds before his own climax was upon him. _I’m the only one, and it should be beautiful brutality and starlight, not rank desolation._ He groaned through his climax and pressed his face into the curve of her neck as she marked his back with her nails.

Breathing hard, he held her tightly, still inside her as she kissed him. She whispered, “I’m all right now. I’m all right.”

It took him a long time to let her go, to ease down next to her on the narrow bed. She still wore the nightshirt and as he smoothed it back down over her breasts he noticed a faded emblem on the pocket. “What’s that?”

“Don’t know. Maybe a Titan symbol?”

He examined it more closely and saw that it was red, black and gold. “No. It’s the Vanguard mark. Zavala’s colours—” He laughed helplessly and scrubbed a hand over is face. He’d just made love to Cresora while she was wearing one of Zavala’s old t-shirts. “And I thought today wouldn’t get any stranger.”

Cresora pulled the t-shirt out and looked down at it. “So it is. Piax must be close to him, I guess. You and Zavala aren’t friendly, are you?”

He imagined the look of distaste on Zavala’s face if he ever found out about this; remembered the way he’d been the last to lower his weapon in the Plaza earlier. “Not exactly.”

Still smiling, he caressed her cheek, pushing her black hair back from her face. “Come back to the forest with me. You need a proper rest.”

Cresora rubbed her fingers over his collarbone. Down his chest. “I’d like that. I’ll need to make another sniper rifle. Raven’s Flight is at the bottom of a pit.”

Osiris tightened his grip on her. “It doesn’t matter. I got my Raven back. Everything else is replaceable. And I meant what I said. It’s not on, trying to die because you’ve made mistakes. Death is for learning. Death is for overcoming.”

She sighed heavily. “More mistakes. Another failed mission. Maybe I do need a proper rest. Did Uldren get her out?”

Osiris hesitated.

“Osiris? You did send word to the Reef or the Prince that the Queen needs rescuing?”

He cleared his throat. “Not exactly, little bird.”

She sat up quickly, pulling away from him. “Not exactly? What does that mean? I’ve been missing for weeks.”

But he didn’t need to answer. She could tell from the look on his face that he hadn’t tried to contact anyone about the queen at all. “You didn’t do what I asked even though you thought I was dead.”

He pushed himself up on the bed, brown eyes flashing. “Yes. I thought you were dead. That was all I could think about. I didn’t give a damn about the Queen of the Reef and I still don’t.”

The Queen was still on the Dreadnaught, writhing in pain. Being tortured. He’d seen that for himself and he’d left her there. He’d gone against Cresora’s wishes—her last wishes. Who _does_ that? Who even is he?

_If I’d died no one would ever have known where the Queen was._

She reached down beside the bed and hurled his robes at him. “Get out.”

* * *

Piax found Cresora in the tiny living room wearing her mended and clean robes and lacing up her boots with angry flicks of her wrists. Osiris had been there earlier but Piax couldn’t see him or hear him in the bedroom. “You okay?”

The Warlock looked up. She was petite and very striking with her golden eyes. “I need a Fireteam to do something dangerous, but important. You and those other Guardians. Mercy and Andara. Do you want in?”

It had been months since the four of them had stood together in the Bazaar. “You remember their names.”

“Yes. I have a good memory, though I’m not very good at working as a team. But I’m going to try. And I need a new sniper rifle.”

None of her Fireteam were very good at working as a team. That was what made them…special, Piax supposed. A Hunter who got up close and personal with the enemy. A Warlock with a chip on her shoulder about everyone and everything. Gruff, grumpy Lord Saladin who’d bedden on his own for a millennia. A Vanguard scout who went for months without speaking to anyone else. Herself, trying to keep them all together, all focused, and not at each others throats.

And now Cresora. Whoever she was. A small, angry mystery. “Andara’s got a few good snipers. And we’re in.”

Cresora straightened in surprise. “Really?”

Piax smiled at her. “Yes. We like dangerous and important missions very much.”

* * *

_Thank you for reading! xx_


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cresora’s new Fireteam board the Dreadnaught to look for the Queen of the Reef, but find much more than they were expecting
> 
> Author’s note: This chapter brings together all four of my OCs: Cresora, Piax, Mercy and Andara because Cresora needs the backup! As Andara’s origin story intersects with Osiris’s past we’re gonna deal with the fallout from THAT mess here, too. It’s not going to be long-winded or boring and you don’t need to have read Andara’s (unfinished) origin story, Before the Fall before you read this. Everything will be clear as you read along and the focus is still on RavenHawk.
> 
> RaspberryBitchface is the ship name for Andara x Shiro-4. 

 

"Ah, home sweet home,” Mercy said, looking appreciatively around at the inside of the Dreadnaught. “I spent weeks disrupting Hive rituals here during the Taken War. Such a blast.”

Andara, bundled up in thick Vanguard robes shaded vivid purple, hefted a pulse rifle in her grip. “Ugh. Cold. I hate the Dreadnaught.”

It was cold, but that wasn’t what was making Cresora shiver. It had only been a matter of days since she’d nearly died here. After she threw Osiris out of Piax’s flat he left the City and she hadn’t heard from him since. It hurt, thinking about him. She tried not to.

Piax, Fireteam leader, turned to Cresora. “So. Where do we start?”

Cresora looked around the vast chasm of black and green Hive structures. From far off came the screaming of a Wizard and the lumbering thump-thump of an ogre. The Dreadnaught was the size of a planet. Where were they even going to begin? In her weakened state the Arc trace that she’d laid down to guide her to the Queen had vanished and she wasn’t game to try any more Thanatonautics by herself.

She pulled out the maps that Osiris had given her. “Before I got separated from my Ghost I was marking off sectors as I searched them. Here’s how far I got.”

The other women gathered around her.

“All right,” said Piax, pointing at a place on map. “We’ll start here and work in a clockwise direction, moving outwards. Happy to navigate?” she asked Cresora, who nodded.

They set off, and Cresora found herself walking alongside Andara, with Piax in front and Mercy bringing up the rear. The only sound was the occasional report of Mercy’s scout rifle as she took pot shots at wriggling Hive worms.

Mercy was the first one to get bored and strike up a conversation. “Hey, so our dear queenie. How do you know she’s on the Dreadnaught?”

Like Andara and Cresora, Mercy was Awoken. “I had a vision during the Red War that she was here. Osiris helped me uncover the rest of it.”

Behind her helm, Andara made an angry little sound. Cresora glanced at her. Curious.

The next seven hours was spent tramping from one room to the next through dark and dirty tunnels, clearing out Hive as they went. Mostly it was Thralls and Knights with the occasional Ogre and coven of Wizards to liven things up.

Late in the day they found themselves back in that vast cavern room, except this time it wasn’t empty. A Hunter was leaping from plinth to plinth, his cloak streaming out behind him and a conga line of screaming Thrall following his every move.

“Who is _that_?” Mercy said admiringly.

The Hunter suddenly turned, pulled a sniper from his back and aimed straight down the line of Thrall. There was a report like a lightning strike and they all disintegrated at once and fell into the abyss. The gunshot had briefly lit the Hunter, his cloak blazing yellow.

Andara cried out, “ _Shiro_.”

The Hunter turned at the sound of his name, hailed the group, and then leapt lightly down to them. Andara ran and threw her arms around him and the Exo pressed his forehead against her helm. One of her hands traced his mouth plates, Void Light shimmering beneath her gloved fingers.

“What are they doing?” Cresora whispered to Piax. Whatever it was looked sweet and tender, and a pang of loss went through her, seeing Andara in the Hunter’s arms.

“Kissing,” the Titan murmured, and drew her away. “They haven’t seen each other in weeks.”

The pair exchanged quiet words together and then turned to the rest of them. Andara was practically bouncing on her toes, the happiest Cresora had ever seen her.

“Lady Guardians,” Shiro said, nodding to each of them in turn.

 _[Wow. He’s polite]_ Cresora’s Ghost said silently.

 _Isn’t he_ , she replied, liking him immediately. He wore brown leather gear over his lean Exo frame, and his cloak was a brilliant shade of canary yellow.

“Andara tells me you’re looking for the Queen of the Reef. I’ve been tasked with looking for something, too. Wanna team up?”

Piax laughed. “Are you kidding? Of course. But I guess you can’t tell us what you’re looking for?”

He hesitated, apologetic. “A set of runes, essentially. I wish I could tell you more. Orders from the Vanguard.”

They started walking and Mercy fell into step beside Shiro. “Thank the Traveler you’re here. This Fireteam was starting to get swamped with Warlocks.”

“Two. Two Warlocks, Mercy,” Andara said, holding up two fingers.

“Yeah, exactly. Swamped.”

* * *

When they stopped to make camp Cresora eyed Andara curiously, but waited for Shiro to peel himself away from her side. When he went with Mercy to do a quick patrol Cresora sat down next to her. “Do you know Osiris?”

Piax, who was flattening out her bedroll, started at the name and looked over at her friend. Andara seemed to choose her words carefully. “Not exactly. I had a run in with him a very long time ago.” She looked narrowly at Cresora. “You’re friendly with him, aren’t you?”

Friendly. Whatever they were to each other it wasn’t friendly right now. How happy she’d been when she’d woken up and found him sleeping by her bedside. He’d heard her, all the way in the Infinite Forest, and had found her. But to have seen what he saw and left the queen to her fate when he thought she was dead was too horrifying. “Not exactly. It’s complicated.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me.”

Cresora didn’t want to pry, but she knew so little about Osiris. “Can I ask what happened between the two of you?”

Andara grimaced, but started talking. “I was rezzed for the first time about a year ago, the same time as Piax, but unlike other Guardians I could remember my life before.”

“But that’s impossible.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m getting to that. I was a Dead Orbit scavenger back when the Walls were new and I died protecting Zavala’s then-girlfriend from a Concordat heavy with a shotgun. He was about to blast her Ghost to pieces during a riot and I stepped in front of the barrel. It was so fucking stupid. I don’t know what made me do it.”

Piax shook her head. “You were a Guardian then even if you didn’t know it. It’s what any of us would do.”

Cresora was confused by this, but waited for the Warlock to keep talking.

Andara looked angry and embarrassed. “Yeah. Maybe. But the point is that when that shotgun killed me I was actually a Ghostless Guardian but I didn’t know it. Hence why I could remember that death and my life as a scavenger when I was revived several hundred years later. Someone found my Ghost and woke her up.”

“How could you not know that you were a Guardian?”

“Osiris,” she muttered darkly. “It seems I really was a Dead Orbit scavenger in my first life and when I was rezzed on Mercury for the first time, really for the first time, me and my Ghost walked into one of his weird experiments while trying to find our way to the Last City.” She glanced at her Ghost which was hovering next to her. “It did something to her. She can’t speak, and I don’t even know her name.”

There was such a look of sadness on Andara’s face. Not being able to hear your Ghost? That was a terrible thing. Cresora’s Ghost had been her only true friend on many lonely missions.

Andara’s Ghost did a sad little swoop and booped her on the nose, making the purple-haired Warlock smile wanly. “My memories are very confused. I remember being in a jumpship with Osiris. Him asking my name and all these other questions and me being unable to answer. In the end he dropped me off at the Last City outside Dead Orbit headquarters. Because of my gear.”

“He just left you with Dead Orbit?”

The Warlock nodded. “Yeah. Real nice, huh? And then with what happened to poor Lyssa, I just, ugh. Osiris is like my least favourite person. Lyssa was Zavala’s girlfriend,” she added, seeing Cresora’s frown.

“What happened to her?” Cresora asked. Then she glanced at Piax, remembering that the Titan seemed to be involved with the commander now. “Oh—sorry. Rude question.”

Piax shook her head. “It’s all right. Osiris was her mentor. After she and Zavala broke up she died on Mercury looking for him, like Saint. No letters, though. Just gone.”

“She was really nice to me,” Andara said quietly. 

Shiro and Mercy had come back and had heard the last part of their conversation. Mercy whistled through her teeth, long and low. “That man sure leaves a lot of messes in his wake.”

Cresora lay down on her pallet, feeling worse for having heard all this. She remembered what he’d said to her when he was trying to convince her that she should let him help her.

_I’ve made a lot of people angry with me over the cycles and I can honestly say not once has it bothered me._

_[Maybe it should have]_ her Ghost said, hovering above her.

_Yeah. No kidding._

* * *

They were walking through some dungeons the next day when a Vex portal opened in a blaze of silver light.

Shiro, the only one who hadn’t seen the Vex portal open in the Tower, was the most alarmed. “Vex! Vex on the Dreadnaught.”

Cresora sighed. “No. It’s Osiris.”

But it wasn’t just Osiris. As he stepped through the portal there was a large, struggling bundle heaved over one of his shoulders, and when saw Cresora he strode forward and threw it at her feet. The figure rolled in the dust and turned onto its back. It was Uldren Sov, Prince of the Reef Awoken, bound and gagged and wriggling like an angry worm.

Mercy snickered. “Aw. Osiris brought you a present.”

Cresora looked up into Osiris’s hawk-like eyes. “What’s this?”

The others, sensing that this was a good time to make themselves scarce, drew away. Piax grabbed a fistful of Uldren’s shirt and dragged him with her.

Osiris pulled his bandana down. “I’m helping you get what you need. You can tell the prince what you know.”

“It’s a little late for that. You should have gone to him when you thought I was dead.”

His eyes were hard and angry. “I thought she’d killed you, her and her brother. I never liked their sneering, their politics. What they did to you—”

She interrupted him. “What they did to me was perfectly understandable. I was a spy. Of course they hated me. If you want to help with this, fine, but why did you have to bring Uldren?”

“Because he’s enjoying himself being Kell of House of Kings and if anyone should be suffering over this is should be the Queen’s own brother.”

Cresora cast her eyes at the ceiling. He’d kidnapped a Fallen Kell and dumped him at her feet like a sack of potatoes. “Traveler’s Light, Osiris. Kings is going to be so mad at you.”

“They can get in line behind the Vex, the Vanguard and you. And I only care what you think, little bird.”

Her face hardened. “Don’t call me that. I’ve been finding out more about your mistakes these last few days. It seems you’ve been making them for some time.”

Before he could ask what she meant Uldren, who’d been untied, strode forward. “I’ll make you pay for this, old man,” he seethed.

Osiris threw him a gun, and the prince caught it. “So good to see you again, Sov. Try not to die.”

Piax looked at Cresora expectantly, glancing meaningfully at the newcomers. They had been four and now they were seven. Cresora blew out her cheeks. “I guess we keep looking? Osiris and the Prince can do what they like.”

The Titan nodded. “All right. We should split up into two groups and—”

“We should stay together,” Osiris interrupted. “A Fireteam of six is the best size when facing the Hive. He doesn’t count,” he added, glaring at the prince.

“Piax is Fireteam leader, Osiris. If you want to stay then follow her orders.”

Osiris seemed to grit his teeth, his eyes flashing. “Piax,” he said, making an effort to sound polite, “if you’re concerned about doing this in the fastest possible time may I suggest we use my reflections? They can search and report back much faster than we can.”

As he spoke half a dozen gleaming reflections split off from his body, all identical copies. Piax looked around at them, bewildered, and then nodded. “Yeah, okay. Use the reflections. Send them to the most inaccessible parts of the ship first. We’ll keep searching these middle sectors.”

Shiro cleared his throat. “Osiris. I’m looking for a certain set of Hive runes. Can your reflections do two things at once?”

The Warlock gave him a long, curious look. “Of course. What are they?”

The Exo Hunter hesitated, clearly wondering whether to trust an outsider with details about his mission. He dug out a datapad and passed it to Osiris, who studied the screen and gave it back.

“Yes. They’ll search for those runes at the same time.”

Cresora thought she saw a gleam of interest in Osiris’s eyes and wondered if the runes meant anything to him. As they began walking Osiris drew up beside her, but she walked faster until she caught up to Piax.

“How’s Eris Morn?” the Awoken Prince asked Osiris in a nasty tone of voice. “I hear she’s not herself these days.”

Mercy put a boot on his backside and shoved. “That way. Your _Highness_.”

“Hunter solidarity,” Shiro said as he walked beside her.

“Word,” she muttered, bumping the fist he offered. Then she glanced at Osiris and sighed. “Another Warlock. Outnumbered again.”

* * *

Uldren quickly became the most tedious part of the search. As they marched from room to room he complained about the pointlessness of what they were doing. “What are we even looking for?”

“A sarcophagus of some kind. She’s being kept in something ritualistic.”

“What utter rubbish.”

Cresora rounded on him. “Don’t you want to find your sister?”

“She’s dead. She died in battle. If there were visions to be had of her, _I_ would have been the one to have them.” He looked at her with loathing. “Not someone like you.”

Osiris conspicuously reloaded his weapon. “Sov—”

“It’s fine, just ignore him, we need to keep moving.”

Mercy stepped forward. “If he’s not interested in helping we could always leave him here.”

The prince sneered at her. “Mind your own business, Fallen Fucker.”

Cresora eyed Mercy’s House of Dusk cloak. So that’s why she wore it. Mercy spat back something in Eliksni that the prince clearly understood as he aimed his weapon at her. Andara and Shiro both sprang to Mercy’s defence.

Meanwhile Piax was trying to be heard over all the yelling as an ominous hissing and scraping sound filled the air. Finally she shot a blast of her auto rifle into the air and shouted, “ _Hive_.”

Thralls were flooding into the room, followed by Knights wielding wickedly serrated swords. Osiris launched himself into the air, fire blazing around a sword that he’d summoned.

On the ground, Mercy and Shiro got to work with their Arc staffs, slicing through the Thralls, Piax sent a rocket launcher shell at an Ogre and Cresora and Andara took cover and sniped. Uldren had disappeared behind a low wall.

Andara looked up at Osiris as she was reloading. He was still zipping around the room hurling flaming swords at the Hive. “He’s a asshole but your boyfriend’s kind of…you know.”

Good. Impressive. “He’s not my boyfriend,” she muttered, looking up at Osiris. “And he knows he’s kind of _you know_.”

It took twenty minutes and a lot of ammunition to overcome the Hive. Finally, the seven of them gathered in the centre of the room.

“All right,” Piax said, staring round at everyone, hands gripping her rifle and breathing hard. “For the rest of the patrol we are all going to _focus_.” Her eyes landed on Uldren. “That includes you, Your Highness. And you do not speak to my Fireteam with anything but respect. Are we clear?”

Witnessing the Guardians at work seemed to have subdued Uldren, and he merely scowled and looked away.

Two hours later they set up camp for the night. As Andara pulled off her helm Osiris glanced at her face. And then looked again.

Andara noticed. “You remember me, then.”

That seemed to startle Osiris. “You remember _me_. How is it that possible? When were you resurrected?”

But Andara turned away, her shoulders tight.

Cresora picked up her gun, looked at Osiris and nodded at the door. Taking her meaning he followed her out of the room. They walked along a walkway, a sheer drop on both sides.

“You remember who she is?”

He nodded. “From a long time ago. When she was mortal she was a scavenger I found disoriented on Mercury. I took her back to the Last City.”

“She wasn’t a scavenger, she was a Guardian, newly risen. She wandered into one of your experiments by mistake.”

Osiris looked at her sharply. “I didn’t know there was a Ghost. I didn’t feel her Light. How did she—Where did her Ghost—?”

But Cresora didn’t want to answer his questions. She had a few of her own. “What were you doing out there on Mercury? Her Ghost has been silent ever since it was trapped in your experiment. She doesn’t even know it’s name.”

“I was studying.”

He look annoyed, and didn’t seem to want to answer. She could well guess why. It was the work he was doing then that upset the Speaker and the Vanguard and led to his expulsion from the City. He was probably tired of defending his actions from that time. But she didn’t much care. She needed to hear it from him. “Studying what?”

“The Light. The extent to which we determine ourselves or whether the Traveler decides everything for us.”

“Does that matter?”

“Of course it matters,” he snapped. “But I wasn’t able to find out the truth so I moved on to other things. I will never stop looking for answers to the questions I have. I can see the way you’re looking at me, Cresora, but it’s the truth whether you like it or not. That is my purpose.”

She shook her head. “I admire your purpose, but you’ve left a lot of casualties in your wake in your search for answers. Andara. Saint. Lyssa.”

If he was surprised she knew about Lyssa he kept it to himself. “That all happened a long time ago, when I was far more reckless.”

Maybe it was the truth. The Vex seemed to have swallowed up most of his energies in recent decades and he had been right about Panoptes. But being right about the Vex didn’t magically make everything else right. “You never went back and tried to fix any of your mistakes.”

Osiris glanced back toward the camp. “It was such a long time ago. I’m not even sure if there’s anything I can do for her.”

“You’re supposed to be clever. Figure it out.”

When she returned to the camp Andara was reading on her pallet. Osiris could talk to her or not, that was his decision, but there was something Cresora might be able to do for Andara in the meantime. If there was one thing Cresora was really good with, it was Ghosts.

She knelt down beside the other Warlock. “Because you’re Awoken, I might have a way to help you with your Ghost. Connect with her. Would you like to try something with me?”

Andara looked at her doubtfully. “I guess. What do I, uh…?”

Cresora sat down cross-legged in front of Andara and motioned her to do the same. When they were knee to knee she said, “Close your eyes and give me your hands.”

Andara did as she was asked and Cresora began speaking softly, of the singing of the stars beyond the Reef. Of the Light that is spread throughout the universe. The Light that lived within Andara. Within her Ghost. That connected them long before even Andara’s resurrection.

She watched Andara’s face as she talked on. “It’s within all Awoken, the ability to forge connections with our minds. You and your Ghost are already strongly linked. Reach out to her with your mind. Feel her presence, and listen.”

Andara’s face suddenly creased with tears and she sobbed, pulling her hands out of Cresora grasp and covering her eyes.

“What is it?

“I can hear her singing,” Andara whispered thickly and looked up at her Ghost, tears shining in her eyes. “I can hear you.”

The Ghost whirred and danced excitedly. Piax came forward and crouched down beside her friend.

“What is your name?” Andara asked the Ghost, reaching up to pluck her out of the air and cradling her in her hands.

“What does she say?” Piax whispered.

Andara paused, listening, one hand to her mouth. “It’s hard to make out, but I think she’s saying Ayla.”

Shiro came forward and put a hand on Andara’s shoulder, and she wrapped an arm around his leg and leaned against him while she listened to her Ghost in her mind, smiling, tears trickling down her face. It was the first time Cresora had seen the Warlock smile.

She stood up and saw Osiris watching her, his eyes unreadable. He took half a step closer, and then hesitated, a question in his eyes. Part of her wanted to go to him. Put her arms around him. Rest the weight of her worries on his chest and close her eyes. It felt so good to be held by him. But the things that he’d done and hadn’t tried to fix stopped her, and she turned quickly away.

An hour later, after the others had fallen asleep, Piax came over to talk to her, whispering softly. “I was in the Tower when Osiris brought you back from the Dreadnaught. He was distraught. When he thought it was too late he started chanting something. I forget what it’s called but Andara can tell you. Some Warlock thing. It was…very moving, what he was doing and the way he feels about you. I just thought you should know. For what it’s worth.”

Cresora glanced at Osiris’s broad, sleeping back and remembered the moments before her Ghost revival. The feel of warm, golden wings wrapping around her even through the bleak certainty of death. Easing her passage.

“He hurt the man you love,” Cresora pointed out.

Piax’s mouth twisted. “He did. But from what I understand Osiris has only ever cared about his work before. If people want to change or put things right we should let them.” She studied Cresora for a moment. “I mean, that’s what we’re doing here, isn’t it?”

* * *

_“I have found the queen.”_

Cresora sat bolt upright on her pallet, recognising the metallic hum of Osiris’ reflections. One was standing before its master, relaying its news.

_“I have found also the runes that the Hunter seeks. They are on the Hive crystal containing the Queen.”_

They’d only been asleep for four hours but everyone scrambled up and grabbed their weapons. Even Uldren seemed keen to get moving, as if at last he believed that the Queen really was being held prisoner somewhere nearby.

The reflection led them on a hour-long hike through the Dreadnaught, down and down through the tunnels and into the far reaches of the ship. Waves of Cursed Thralls attacked them, their detonations fierce and sudden. The Fireteam looked down into a ritual room with a great black crystal in the centre.

 _“She is there,”_ the reflection said, and disappeared with a snap.

Piax turned to Shiro. “Is this what you were expecting to find?”

The Exo looked carefully around at the room, and then nodded.

“Is it going to be dangerous down there?”

“Yeah. I think it is.”

Piax stationed Osiris and Andara at the top of the room and told them to use their ranged supers and scouts. She turned to Cresora. “Stormcaller? You go down with Mercy and Shiro and carve it up. Uldren and I will come in from the sides with our autos.”

Osiris shook his head. “I’m a Stormcaller as well. I’ll go down, Cresora can stay up here and sn—”

“Yes, Piax, I’m going,” Cresora interrupted him. As she passed by him she hissed, “Don’t argue. You’re more use as a Dawnblade anyway.”

He caught her arm. “Be careful down there.”

Cresora looked into his tense brown eyes, not knowing what to say. She heard the soft thumps of Mercy and Shiro landing down on the ritual floor, and jumped after them.

The Hive emerged as if from nowhere, hundreds of them. Flaming swords fell all around her, burning away the enemies that might have been in range of her Stormtrance. She lobbed grenades instead, and used her fusion rifle on the toughest Knights. _Traveler’s Light Osiris, I’m fine._

Until she wasn’t. Thrall came screaming out of nowhere, claws raised. She was changing to her auto rifle when her eyes swept over the crystal, and saw her. The Queen. Trapped within the crystal, her eyes wide and staring and her hands pressed against the translucent sides. Not screaming. The screaming was only on the inside.

Then the Thrall were upon her, a hissing, scratching mass. She couldn’t get her gun up to fire. A hand circled her wrist and pulled her to safety, and when she looked up it wasn’t Osiris that she saw, but the Prince.

“She’s all right, I can feel it,” he said roughly, shooting the Thrall in bursts. “We’re going to get her out but you need to keep fighting.”

Running into the centre of the room, Cresora summoned her Light and unleashed a wave of Arc energy. It swept from one enemy to the next, disintegrating them within a blaze of lightning. When the storm ended, the Hive were gone.

There were two thumps, Andara and Osiris landing next to her. She watched as Uldren and Shiro stepped forward to the crystal, searching for a way to open it. Her hands were shaking on her gun.

“It’s different to how we saw it,” she whispered to Osiris.

“We saw what she felt.”

Mara Sov came out of the crystal pale and trembling slightly, but on her own two feet. She looked around at her rescuers, her eyes half-lidded and cold. “Osiris. It is been some time.” She gave him a calculating look, and said slowly. “You knew I was here. You were going to leave me here.” Her eyes slid to Cresora. “Because of her. Petty, though understandable. She is the raven, isn’t she?”

Cresora stared at her. The queen been aware of so much throughout her entrapment?

The Queen turned to Uldren. “House of Kings. You have been busy, brother. Take me there, and we shall see what you have done.”

And with that the Queen strode carefully but solemnly out of the room, steadying with every step, as if she was growing stronger. At the threshold Uldren paused and looked back at Cresora, his mouth twisted as if with words he wanted to say. Then his eyes fell away and he strode out after his sister.

* * *

Osiris sat beside the purple-haired Warlock in the jumpship. “Can I talk to you, Andara?”

She was watching the rings of Saturn recede, and turned quickly to Osiris when she heard his voice. Shiro drew a step closer to her, his optics chilly. She put a hand on his chest. 

After taking a long, measured look at Osiris, the Hunter drew away and went to sit with Mercy.

“It’s easy not to pay attention to things when you feel important. When you feel busy. I should have realised you were a Guardian.”

Andara said nothing. The antipathy was rolling off her in waves.

“When you wandered into my experiment—

“Got _caught in_. I got caught in your experiment.”

“When you got caught in my experiment all I saw was a confused Dead Orbit scavenger. I never saw your Ghost.”

“She was there.”

He nodded. “I believe you. Would it help you if you had some answers? About what I was doing and what I saw?”

The young woman thought for a moment. “I don’t know. Try me.”

“I was studying the nature of the Light, looking for the way it influences Guardians and what we become. What we are. I was using my own Light and Sagira’s, teasing it apart in what I thought was a controlled environment. Then I saw you and stopped the experiment. You were very confused and couldn’t remember who you were.”

Andara glanced at the pretty golden Ghost hovering by Osiris’s shoulder. “And you didn’t mind? He would do that to you?”

 _[Oh, all the time, back in the old days. He experimented on both of us. Lately it’s just been Vex, Vex, Vex.]_ Sagira almost sounded like she missed the experiments.

The Warlock turned to him. “You should have told me at the time what had happened to me. You should have told someone at Dead Orbit. I didn’t understand anything that was happening to me. I felt so afraid.”

“I should have. I’m sorry.”

“I suppose you went right back to your experiments as soon as you dumped me back on earth.”

“I did.”

“Jeez, no wonder they banished you. Zavala might be boring and uptight but at least he cares.” She hesitated, seeming interested despite herself. “What did you find out, anyway? In that experiment.”

“Very little of interest. I gave up and moved onto Thanatonautics which I found much more rewarding. I’m sorry it wasn’t even worth it in the end, what happened to you.”

She shrugged. “Even failed experiments have their uses.”

Osiris raised an amused eyebrow. “I’ve always thought so, too.”

Andara looked at him for a long moment. “I heard you uncovered some parts of the Thanatonaut’s Lullaby. I like those passages. They’re very beautiful.”

“Have you tried it yourself?”

She shook her head. “I considered it. When I was looking for answers.”

“If you would ever like to try Thanatonautics, just because you’re interested, I would be happy to help you.”

“Maybe.” She glanced over at the others and then back at him. “Cresora’s really nice, you know.”

Osiris glanced at Cresora. Her golden eyes flickered over him and then away, and his heart constricted. “I know.”

“Then don’t be an asshole.” And with a look that could melt metal the Warlock turned away, and Osiris supposed that was as close to _I forgive you_ as he was going to get from Andara.

* * *

He found her at the railings, looking out over the Last City. Cresora looked up at him as the golden light burnished his face.

“How does it feel? Now that it’s over.”

She smiled out across the houses and streets, at the pink clouds skirting the setting sun. “Better than I thought it would. It’s over. I’m so happy it’s over.”

The relief knowing that the Queen was free had been quickly replaced by a sense of elation. She didn’t owe them anything anymore, and they could think of her what they liked. She never had to think of them again.

He nodded slowly, and then let out a long, heavy sigh. “Things are not good between us. I wish I knew how to make things right.”

She remembered what he said to her when she was distraught over Uldren and the Queen.

_I’ve made a lot of people angry with me over the cycles and I can honestly say not once has it bothered me._

_Are you admitting to having made mistakes?_

_Cresora, I’m saying that there a thousand things I would devote my time to before I thought even one less than admiring thought about you._

“I am grateful, Osiris. Thank you for helping me.”

“Always. I’ll always want to help you, if you need me.” He looked at her hard, as if trying to make her believe him through sheer force of his will.

She hesitated. “I feel like there was something you were going to show me, before, when we got the vision of the Queen, but there wasn’t time.”

He looked down at her, his hand very close to hers on the railings. “Yes, there was something very special. The most important thing to me. It’s…my home, in a way. My heart. My soul.”

Is that what her own void of blackness and stars would become to her, over time, if she returned enough times? Her home? “And you were going to show me?”

“I’ll show you now, if you like.”

* * *

Their bodies were in the Simulant Past but the rest of them were in Cresora’s dark visions. She flew in a long, glorious circle, revelling in the freedom, the happiness she felt now that this place was no longer occupied by pain and screaming. 

Osiris twined around her, his feathers skimming her own, and then he flew toward the horizon. She followed. The blackness seemed to go on and on, the gold light a mere line in the distance. Then suddenly they burst through as if into sunshine, and he was all around her.

She saw him. Properly saw him. There was nothing he could hide from her as everything here was him, bright and gold and vital. Every flaw. Every strength. Is this how it was for him, when he saw her, the raven against the velvet night?

They flew up and up together, circling slowly, feathers skimming each other, higher and higher until the Light raced through them. 

When she opened her eyes she found him already watching her. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered. “That world of Light and gold. But the void is beautiful too. You saw the darkness and all I felt about myself in that place and you didn’t say anything. You didn’t tell me how it could be wonderful.”

“I didn’t want to tell you. I wanted you to see for yourself.”

She pressed her mouth against his, and tasted gold, shimmering against the darkness of the void.

“Little bird,” he murmured, kissing her back. “Little bird. You understand now, don’t you, why I love you? How could I not, when I saw all that you were, standing out so bright against the stars.”

* * *

They walked back to his spire, hand in hand, and in the window that looked out across Mercury, she turned to him. “What were those runes that Shiro was searching for? The ones on the Queen’s sarcophagus.”

Osiris tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and pulled her closer to him. “They’re a special set of summoning runes for a ritual. Powerful ones. The Vanguard must have discovered their importance and sent Shiro to look for them.”

“What do they mean?”

He considered this for a moment, seeming reluctant to answer. “I’m not a Hive expert. Eris may now better than I do.”

“But what do you think they mean?”

“That the Hive are gathering their strength under a new leader. That the Queen was going to be used as a host. And that Savathûn is coming.”

* * *

_Thank you for reading! xx_


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drabble time! Cresora visits Osiris in the Infinite Forest and is frustrated to find he’s not there. Good thing his reflections are just as welcoming.
> 
> Smut smutty smut!! WOOOO!! Happy smut!

_“Osiris is not here.”_

Cresora looks carefully at the golden reflection. It’s rare to find them inside his spire home. Apart from the faint hum that emanates from it and the golden shine it’s identical to the man himself.

“Where is he?”

_“In a simulated timeline.”_

Oh, of course he is. Normal Osiris things. It’s horribly hot on Mercury and she’s sweaty from having run all the way through the Infinite Forest, avoiding the gunfire of the Vex, Hive and Fallen. A literal battle if she wants to see her lover. And she does want to see him. How annoying.

“I’ll be in the bath,” she says, climbing the stairs to Osiris’ bedroom. There’s a strange waterfall-pond-bath creation in a side room that always has fresh warm water running through it, and she slips out of her robes and plunges in. Eyes closed, she floats in the water.

A hand strokes down her cheek, then smooths down and cups her breast. Another hand rubs through her hair, massaging her scalp, and she moans with pleasure. Osiris has returned. A third hand reaches down and strokes her inner thigh.

A third hand?

She opens her eyes with a gasp and sees two of Osiris’ reflections leaning over her. Their touch is warm and almost as solid as flesh. She watches them, waiting to see what they will do, and the one touching her thigh moves its hand up and strokes its fingers over her sex. She can feel its hum in its fingers.

They wait, watching her. “What are you doing?”

_“Whatever you like.”_

_“We could wash your hair.”_

As the one that’s spoken is still stroking her sex it’s clear that they aren’t here to wash her hair. “You two are giving me terrible ideas.”

 _“Two?”_ says another reflection from the doorway. Behind him she can see another.

“How many of you are there?”

_“We are infinite.”_

“Oh, I see. Like his ego.”

The reflections laugh, and she wonders if they are amused, or just pretending. “Do you feel things? Want things?”

_“We are his echoes. We want what he wants.”_

_“He wants you very much.”_

“Won’t he be angry with you? Jealous?”

The reflections laugh again, a low chuckle so like Osiris’s own.  _“He will be interested in the raw data.”_

_“Our experiences can be transferred.”_

_“He won’t be angry with you, either. We are he.”_

Cresora snorts. “Oh, good to know. I was terribly worried.” She eyes, them, amused and curious. “Keep going, then. Gather your data.”

They lift her out of the bath and dry her with towels, and with warm hands pressed against her body they escort her to the bed and lay her down.

Their fingers feel warm as they stroke over her skin, and she closes her eyes and enjoys the feel of four? Five? Six? Pairs of hands. She feels a mouth on her breast, and then one on her other, and they suck, their mouths as wet and warm as any living man’s.

Several hands spread her legs open and they run their fingers over her thighs, her sex, the soft folds. Fingers rub over her clit, many fingers, each dipping down to push just a little way into her and then back up again. She feels a tongue on her clit and it moves exactly as Osiris’ does, licking slowly, firmly, but with that hum again.

Her voice tight with pleasure, she asks, “How do you know how to do it just like that?”

They answer. Not the one busy with her clit, but the others.  _“Our experiences can be transferred.”_

_“He transferred these to us.”_

“He told you what I like in bed?”

_“Tell is…not the right word.”_

_“We just know.”_

_“We know everything Osiris knows.”_

Several fingers, she can’t even tell how many or who they belong to, push slowly into her and she lets out a low moan.

There’s a dark chuckle from the other side of the room. “Enjoying yourself, little bird?”

Cresora opens her eyes and sees Osiris sitting on the sofa beneath the window, one long leg crossed over the other.

She looks round and counts six reflections touching and licking her. “This was their idea, for the record. I was just having a bath.”

He smiles wider. “Actually it was my idea.”

“Have you been here all this time?”

“No, I was running a simulation. But I made every effort to finish quickly so I could come back and find out what was happening here.”

His reflections were having sex with her, that was what was happening. “Would you like to join us?”

“No. I’d like to watch.”

One of the reflections is still licking her and she has to pause and flex her hips and cry out. “Your ego really has no limits.”

Three different reflections have fingers inside her and are fucking her slowly. The pleasure that is building is intense, and as her climax grows she doesn’t break eye contact with the flesh and blood Osiris, not until the last possible moment and her eyes close and her orgasm breaks through her.

When she opens her eyes she see that he’s has drawn closer and is looking down at her and smiling. “Very few, little bird. Very few. But I’m not looking at them, I’m looking at you. How beautiful you are, my golden-eyed girl, limned in gold.”

She grabs his wrist and pulls him down to her. “I think there’s room for one more.”

* * *

_Thank you for reading! xx_


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